DATE: Monday, May 5, 1997                   TAG: 9705030062

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LORRAINE EATON, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  108 lines

IT'S MAY, AND FOR TEENS, THAT MEANS GRADUATION PLANS,PROM SEASON AND A... DRESS DIET

IT'S PROM TIME, the high season of dieting for teen-age girls.

This year's prom season coincides with the release of a nationwide study that says teen-age girls' diets lack important nutrients and could lead to future health problems. Nutritionists say crash dieting can exacerbate nutrition deficiencies and may lead to eating disorders.

Still, prom-bound females across Hampton Roads are giving up breakfast, foregoing snacks, exercising like crazy and eschewing meat and milk. Rifle through a teen magazine and it's easy to see why. Marilyn Monroe would have loved this year's gowns. The satins and silks hug everything; shine and sequins caress every curve.

The girls figure they have no choice but to diet.

``Everybody is watching their weight so they can fit in their dresses'' in time for the May 3 prom, said Tiajuana Benson, a senior at Suffolk's Nansemond River High School. ``They are trying to lose 10, five pounds. I'm selling candy for the Beta Club and candy sales have been down for girls.''

If teen-age girls approach quick weight loss by skipping cheeseburgers and fries and foregoing the nachos after school, what they eliminate in terms of nutrients on a crash diet may not be of real concern, said Frances Casper, a nutrition counselor with Consultants in Nutritional Services in Norfolk.

The problem arises when teen-agers substitute the already inadequate amounts of nutrient-rich foods they do eat with other less nutritious foods - or no food at all.

The study of the eating habits of 15,000 people by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declared that teen-age girls have some of the poorest eating habits of any group of Americans. It found that about 80 percent of teen-age girls consume less calcium and iron than is recommended. Their intake of fat is too high and fiber is too low. And they are even more likely than their male counterparts to skip home-cooked meals, opting instead for fat- and sodium-filled fast food burgers and fries.

Some repercussions of these diet deficiencies are immediate. It could be years before others emerge, but when they do they could be serious, including osteoporosis and heart disease.

``It's not human nature to be terribly concerned at 15 or 16 with your health at 55 and 65,'' said Joanne F. Guthrie, a nutritionist at the USDA and one of the report's authors. ``Teen-agers don't think about heart attacks, but the foundation might be laid now for future problems.''

It's not easy being a teen-age girl in the '90s. Society says thin is beautiful. Science says females must get more minerals and vitamins than their male peers from a diet that calls for fewer calories. It's a delicate equation, and teen-age girls tend to leave out the nutrient factor.

That's right. We're not thinking about old age, local girls said.

``I just don't want pimples,'' said Ebonique Williams, 14, an eighth-grader at Northside Middle School in Norfolk. ``That's all I care about.''

She's more worried about her intake of chocolate than calcium. But USDA researchers were most concerned about the low intake of calcium - only 16 percent of teen-age girls consumed the recommended amount. Calcium is critical in building bone mass, which develops primarily in youth. Bone mass declines in adulthood and in severe cases can lead to osteoporosis, a degenerative bone disease.

When teen-agers go on a diet (or anyone else for that matter), calcium intake is likely to decrease, Guthrie said, because of the common perception that calcium-rich foods like cheese and milk are fattening, Guthrie said. But skim milk actually has slightly more calcium than whole milk.

Substitute a diet soda for milk and it's a double whammy, said Linda C. Barnes, a registered dietitian at Integrated Nutrition Concepts in Virginia Beach. That's because the sodium and phosphate in sodas, known as ``the bone robbers,'' actually impact osteoporosis.

Aside from dieting, Guthrie found that teen-age girls are less likely to eat school meals than other students. School lunches are high in calcium. And as people move from childhood to adolescence, there is a tendency to substitute soft drinks for milk. ``There is a certain cultural connection,'' Guthrie said. ``Drinking soft drinks is a sign of growing up.''

A recent random survey of girls at Booker T. Washington High School in Norfolk found that almost all of them included soda in their diets, most notably at breakfast.

LaSonya Jackson, 17, a senior who hasn't started her pre-prom diet yet, said she had a corned beef sandwich, a Pop Tart and a Pepsi on the bus on the way to school.

``Ritz crackers, popcorn, SweetTarts, soda, the normal stuff'' said freshman Talesha Carter, 14, of her breakfast.

Other teen-agers said they are skipping breakfast altogether as part of their prom preparation.

Soda at breakfast - or no breakfast - is one of the poorer food choices that a teen-age girl can make, Guthrie said. That's because traditional breakfast foods - cereal with milk, for example - are generally high in iron and calcium.

Only 21 percent of teen-age girls get enough iron. An iron deficit can have immediate impact, impairing athletic performance, learning and resistance to infection.

Angela Hicks, 17, a senior at Woodrow Wilson High School in Portsmouth, said many girls are binge exercising to fit into their prom dresses. Other girls reported that they are simply walking and running more. And some are contributing to the $33 million a year exercise industry by renting and buying aerobics exercise tapes.

Excessive exercise and crash dieting can lead to eating disorders in some cases, said Barnes, the Virginia Beach nutritionist. Girls lose weight, their friends tell them how good they look, and they think losing more weight would be even better.

``They get a distorted self-image and just keep going,'' she said.

But Casper said there could be an upside to these new exercising regimes.

``Our experience indicates that many teen-age girls . . . are not into heavy-duty exercise,'' Casper said. ``Chances are this will not be the method of weight loss. But if it is, a two- to four-week period of aerobic activity could be the start of a new, positive behavior.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color illustration by Janet Shaughnessy KEYWORDS: TEENAGE DIET PROM

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