Abstract
Diabetes is a worldwide disease also affecting the sports field. The two main forms of diabetes, namely type 1 diabetes (T1D) and type 2 diabetes (T2D), differ in both their pathological and pharmacological characteristics and thus require a distinct nutritional treatment. Diet plays an important role in the management of athletes with diabetes and is crucial to achieving their best performance. This review aims to investigate the objectives of nutritional therapy before, during and after training, in order to improve the best composition of macronutrients during meals. In this review, we provide a brief overview of recent studies about nutritional approaches to people with diabetes for performance optimization and for the control of diabetes-related complications. Thereafter, we discuss the differences between macronutrients and dietary intake before, during and after training. It can be concluded that each sport has particular characteristics in terms of endurance and power, hence demanding a specific energy expenditure and consequent nutritional adjustments. Therefore, the management of athletes with diabetes must be personalized and supported by medical professionals, including a diabetologist, physiologist and a nutritionist.
Highlights
Many professional athletes, practicing different sports, suffer from diabetes
Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease that includes several physiological dysfunctions [3] with different etiologies: it is characterized by chronic hyperglycemia due to either a defect in insulin secretion and/or functionality
The purpose of this review is to investigate the objectives of nutritional therapy before, during and after training, in order to improve the composition of macronutrients during meals for performance optimization and for the control of diabetes-related complications
Summary
Many professional athletes, practicing different sports, suffer from diabetes. Currently, there are no specific dietary indications to be applied in the sporting field. T2D is described by a double defect: insulin is not sufficiently produced to meet the body’s needs, leading to a deficit of insulin secretion, or, the insulin produced does not work adequately causing the well-known insulin resistance. The result, in both T1D and T2D, is a persistent increase in blood glucose levels defined as hyperglycemia. A critical point in diabetes management is the prevention of complications due to persistent hyperglycemia These mainly include macrovascular and microvascular events, e.g., stroke, acute myocardial infarction, diabetic nephropathy, retinopathy, and neuropathy [5]. Some musculoskeletal disorders are more common in diabetic subjects and include osteoarthritis [7], tendinopathy [8], fractures [9], intervertebral disc degeneration [10,11] and decreased bone mineral density (BMD) [12,13,14]
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