Assessment of Nutritional Practices of Indian Female Athletes

Abstract

Nutritional status has a direct bearing on the level of physical performance, that's why sports nutrition is considered as an integral part of sports medicine. The aim of the study was to evaluate the nutritional status of Indian female athletes. To solve the purpose, a total of purposely selected 100 Indian female athletes aged 20-25 years (mean age 21.87 years ± 2.59) collected from six Indian universities, were considered for the present study. The competition was organized in Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab, India. An equal number of controls (n=100) were also collected from the same place for comparisons. Six anthropometric charact eristics, viz. height, weight, BMI, waist circumference, hip circumference, waist to hip ratio and mid-upper arm circumference were considered in this purpose. A pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire and 24-hours recall method were applied for the assessment of nutritional status of the athletes. Results indicated statistically significant differences (p<.001) in hip circumference and waist to hip ratio between Indian female athletes and controls. So far BMI was concerned, no significant differences were found between Indian athletes and controls, showing major ity of individuals fall well within the normal range of BMI. When mean nutrient intake of athletes and controls were compared, significant differences (p<.05 - .001) were found in all the variables studied, except energy, iron and sodium between them. It may be concluded from the present study that nutritional status of Indian female athletes were superior as compared to their control counterparts.