DIETARY INTAKE AND NUTRITIONAL KNOWLEDGE OF BRAZILIAN PROFESSIONAL MALE SOCCER PLAYERS

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It is assumed that soccer players have enough nutritional knowledge to eat well-balanced diets and to adjust their food and fluid intake to cope with the demands of training and playing under varying climatic conditions. The major causes of fatigue for soccer players are the depletion of muscle glycogen and dehydration, since the body stores of carbohydrate are limited. So, it is important that soccer players have a high intake of carbohydrate in their diets. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the dietary intake of Brazilian professional male soccer players and their knowledge about nutrition. It was studied 66 athletes from four different teams. Their ages ranged from 18 to 34 years old and, on average, they played professional soccer for 4 years and 4 months. Dietary intake was obtained from a 24-hour recall. The athletes completed a self-administered questionnaire to determine their knowledge about nutrition. Mean daily intake of energy and macronutrients were estimated and compared to recommendation in literature for athlete's adequacy. They had a mean daily intake of 3918,87 kcal (1255,95) which was according to the recommended of 3150 to 4300 kcal for soccer players. The carbohydrate mean intake (5,82 2 g/kg of body weight/day) was below the ideal intake of, at least, 8 g/kg of body weight/day. Regarding to protein, the mean intake of 2,48 (0,73) was above the recommended intake of 1,4 to 1,7 g/kg of body weight/day. The mean fat intake of the players (29% of the total energetic intake) was in agreement with AHA. Their score in the nutritional knowledge questionnaire was: 30% of the athletes got right all of the 10 answers, 35% 9 answers, 30% of the players 8 and, finally, 5% of them got 7 answers right. Although players demonstrated a satisfactory knowledge about nutrition, they have an inadequate intake of carbohydrate and an excessive intake of protein. These could lead to a limited performance. These data suggest that these athletes would benefit from additional and constant education on sports nutrition.