Abstract
PurposeDespite unequivocal evidence demonstrating high carbohydrate (CHO) availability improves endurance performance, athletes often report under-eating CHO during competition. Such findings may be related to a lack of knowledge though currently there are no practical or time-efficient tools to assess CHO knowledge in athletes. Accordingly, we aimed to validate a novel questionnaire to rapidly assess endurance athletes’ knowledge of competition CHO guidelines.MethodsThe Carbohydrate for Endurance Athletes in Competition Questionnaire (CEAC-Q) was created by research-active practitioners, based on contemporary guidelines. The CEAC-Q comprised 25 questions divided into 5 subsections (assessing CHO metabolism, CHO loading, pre-event meal, during-competition CHO and recovery) each worth 20 points for a total possible score of 100.ResultsA between-group analysis of variance compared scores in three different population groups to assess construct validity: general population (GenP; n = 68), endurance athletes (EA; n = 145), and sports dietitians/nutritionists (SDN; n = 60). Total scores were different (mean ± SD) in all pairwise comparisons of GenP (17 ± 20%), EA (46 ± 19%) and SDN (76 ± 10%, p < 0.001). Subsection scores were also significantly different between the groups, with mean subsection scores of 3.4 ± 4.7% (GenP), 9.2 ± 5.2% (EA) and 15.2 ± 3.5% (SDN, p < 0.001). Test–retest reliability of the total CEAC-Q was determined in EA (r = 0.742, p < 0.001).ConclusionTaking ~ 10 min to complete, the CEAC-Q is a new psychometrically valid, practical and time-efficient tool for practitioners to assess athletes’ knowledge of CHO for competition and guide subsequent nutrition intervention.
Highlights
Endurance athletes have been reported to not achieve optimal carbohydrate (CHO) intake for competition despite guidelines with strong scientific evidence supporting the use of optimal CHO intake to enhance endurance performance [1,2,3,4,5,6]
Of the 393 participants who commenced, the Carbohydrate for Endurance Athletes in Competition Questionnaire (CEAC-Q) was completed by a total of 272 individuals with a completion rate of 69%, consisting of the general population (n = 68), endurance athletes (n = 145) and sports dietitians/ nutritionists (n = 60) Table 2
In regards the total score of the test, the general population (GenP) had the lowest score (17 ± 20, mean ± SD), followed by EA (46 ± 19) with the highest knowledge observed in the sports dietitians/nutritionists (SDN) group (76 ± 10, p < 0.001; Fig. 2A)
Summary
Endurance athletes have been reported to not achieve optimal carbohydrate (CHO) intake for competition despite guidelines with strong scientific evidence supporting the use of optimal CHO intake to enhance endurance performance [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Given the strong support for optimal CHO practices in laboratory and real-world settings, a reason why athletes do not meet the CHO intake guidelines may be lack of knowledge, but there is currently no tool to quickly and systematically address this to inform and guide athletes’ nutrition coaching. Existing nutrition knowledge questionnaires assessing general and sports-specific nutrition knowledge of athletes are available [12,13,14,15]. None of these questionnaires focuses exclusively on current CHO guidelines to assess knowledge and help explain the role between knowledge of CHO guidelines and practice within competition [2]. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a novel questionnaire to systematically and rapidly assess endurance athletes’ key knowledge of CHO requirements for optimal performance in competition
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