Abstract
PurposeTo assess the dietary intake, nutrition knowledge and hydration status of Irish Gaelic footballers.MethodOne hundred and sixty-eight male club/county level Irish Gaelic footballers (median [IQR]; age 23 years [20.0, 27.0]; height 1.79 m [1.74, 1.84]; body mass 78.0 kg [73.5, 84.8]) participated in this cross-sectional study. Dietary intake was assessed using a 4-day semi-quantitative food record, with the application of Goldberg cut-offs to define acceptable reporters (n = 62). Nutrition knowledge was assessed using the validated Nutrition for Sport Knowledge Questionnaire in a sub-group of athletes (n = 24), while hydration status was measured using urine specific gravity pre-exercise (USG) in 142 athletes.ResultsDietary analysis indicated an energy deficit at the group level (485 kcal [IQR 751,6]) (p < 0.001), with carbohydrate intakes (3.6 g/kg [IQR 3.0,4.1]) below current guidelines for athletes participating in one hour moderate intensity exercise per day (5–7 g/kg; p < 0.001). Average vitamin D (3.8 µg [IQR 1.8, 5.5]) and selenium intakes (54.2 µg [47.2, 76.7]) were significantly below the reference nutrient intakes (p < 0.001). A high proportion of individual athletes also had sub-optimal intakes for: vitamin D (95.2%), selenium (72.6%), vitamin A (38.7%), potassium (30.6%), zinc (25.8%), magnesium (19.4%) and calcium (12.9%). Nutrition knowledge was deemed poor (40.2 ± 12.4%), while pre-exercise hydration status (median USG 1.010 [IQR 1.005, 1.017]) was significantly below the cut-off to denote dehydration (1.020; p < 0.001).ConclusionsOur findings suggest that Irish Gaelic footballers have sub-optimal dietary practices and lack nutrition knowledge. Individualised nutrition support may benefit these athletes to meet their nutrition requirements, to support health and performance.
Highlights
Gaelic football is governed by Ireland’s largest sporting and community organisation, yet there is growing disparity between public and scientific interest in the area [1, 2]
The primary aim of this study is to quantify the dietary intake of Irish Gaelic footballers and compare these to national [20,21,22,23] and sports specific recommendations [4]
Only assessed in a sub-group of the footballers, we can conclude that nutrition knowledge was poor, while the majority of athletes commenced training euhydrated
Summary
Gaelic football is governed by Ireland’s largest sporting and community organisation, yet there is growing disparity between public and scientific interest in the area [1, 2]. Modern day sport science recognises nutrition as a major facet of an athlete’s ability to perform and recover from exercise [4]. Despite such importance, even professional team sport athletes struggle to meet basic energy and carbohydrate requirements [5]. Relative energy deficiency in sport is becoming an increasing concern for athletes with inadequate dietary intakes [9]. The contact nature of Gaelic football poses risks to musculoskeletal health, with almost a third of the sport’s upper body injuries being fractures [10]. Concerning bone health, the only study to publish micronutrient data in Gaelic footballers indicates inadequate calcium intakes
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