Abstract
Dietary intake can play an important role in athlete’s preparation for competition. However, there is currently limited data on the dietary intake of athletes from varying countries and sports while attending and competing at a major international competition. PURPOSE: To investigate the dietary intake of athletes who sought nutrition advice from dieticians located at a nutrition kiosk in the dining hall at the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games. METHODS: Four Australian Registered Dieticians based at the main dining hall nutrition kiosk performed a 24hr recall on a standard proforma with athletes who approached the nutrition kiosk for assistance. Dietary analysis was conducted using FoodWorks (Xyris Pty Ltd). RESULTS: A total of 30 athletes representing 15 countries (Africa, Caribbean, India, United Kingdom, and Oceania) and 12 sports (endurance, power/sprint, racquet, skill, team, and weight category) approached the kiosk prior to competition, with the majority requesting advice for weight management and making weight (n = 21). Overall, athletes reported consuming carbohydrate within the range of 1.0 - 9.0g/kg BW (M = 4.1g/kg BW) which contributed to 49% TE (range 14% - 79%), protein intake from 0.3 - 4.3g/ kg BW (M = 1.8g/kg BW) and 22% TE (range 8% - 48%), and fat intake from 9.5 - 130g (M = 68.6g, 28% TE). Athletes in weight category sports (n = 9) reported the lowest energy intake (M = 6909kJ, range 2384 - 14,560kJ), however had the highest contribution of energy from protein (M = 1.5g/kg BW, 26% TE), and lowest from carbohydrate (M = 2.9g/kg BW, 48% TE), and fat (M = 48.8g, 23% TE). The majority of athletes reported consuming 3 main meals (n = 23, 77%), with a high proportion of total energy intake at these meals versus snacks (M = 86% vs. 14% TE, SD = 12.2). Five athletes did not consume any snacks. Sports drinks were consumed mid meal by 14 athletes and contributed to over half of the TE between meals (M = 55%, SD = 32). CONCLUSIONS: The reported dietary intake of a sample of athletes requiring assistance at this large scale competition event suggests that a number of these athletes do not meet current, evidence based recommendations. Further investigation of the dietary intake of athletes prior to competition will assist with refi ning the nutrition support required to assist with meeting these recommendations.
Highlights
International travel and short-term residence overseas is a common feature of an athlete’s competition schedule, differing eating arrangements and food options when away from home may influence an athlete’s food choice, and potentially their performance
While sport-specific recommendations exist for athletes to ensure that they consume sufficient total energy (TE) to meet requirements, carbohydrate (CHO) to replenish glycogen stores, protein to aid in muscle repair and growth, as well as fluid to stay adequately hydrated [1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9], very little evidence is available to ascertain if athletes meet these recommendations in residence during major international competitions
Athletes who requested assistance at the nutrition kiosk at a major international competition generally had a poor variety of foods, distribution of, and in some cases inadequate intake of, energy, macro, and micronutrients
Summary
International travel and short-term residence overseas is a common feature of an athlete’s competition schedule, differing eating arrangements and food options when away from home may influence an athlete’s food choice, and potentially their performance. There appears to be considerable individual variability in dietary intake, the majority of studies to date show that athletes tend on average to meet current evidence-based recommendations for protein, but not CHO [10,11,12,13,14]. This is evident in females [15]. Discrepancies exist between methods of data collection (for example a 24 h recall vs. 7 days weighed food diaries), whether the athlete is in Nutrients 2016, 8, 638; doi:10.3390/nu8100638 www.mdpi.com/journal/nutrients
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