Abstract
A balanced diet is a fundamental component of athletes’ health, training, and performance. The majority of athletes choose adequate quantities of macronutrients but, at the same time, do not respect World Health Organization dietary guidelines, eating a lot of discretionary food and not drinking enough water. Athletes need more nutritional education to improve the quality of their food choice. By modifying their eating habits, they could also enhance their performance. Our study aimed to evaluate the impact of nutritional intervention on eating habits in a group of Northern Italian athletes. A sample of 87 athletes (41 males and 46 females) aged 16.5 ± 2.9 was enrolled. We organized meetings and detected eating habits (before and after the meetings) using a food frequencies questionnaire. We found that nutritional intervention positively affected participants consumption of vegetables (p < 0.05), nuts (p < 0.001), legumes (p < 0.001), and fish (p < 0.05). Other aspects of the athletes’ eating habits were not significantly improved. Some gender differences were found; males increased their consumption of vegetables (p < 0.05) and nuts (p < 0.001), while females increased their intake of legumes (p < 0.001). Our finding suggested that nutritional intervention could promote healthy eating habits among athletes. If sports nutrition experts, coaches, personal trainers, sports medicine experts, and athletes cooperated, they could guarantee athletes’ health status.
Highlights
Eating habits are defined as how a person or group eats in terms of choices and quantity, and timing; World Health Organization (WHO) dietary guidelines highlight the importance of maintaining a normal Body Mass Index (BMI), eating at least five portions of fruit and vegetables per day, drinking lots of clean water, and limiting intake of sugars [1]
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of nutritional intervention on a group of Northern Italian athletes’ eating behavior in terms of eating habits and physical status, in particular: (a) to observe possible changes in food consumption; (b) to assess possible changes in the athletes’ health status in terms of BMI, adiposity, etc.; (c) to assess differences between male and female athletes in the process
We investigated whether raising awareness about the adoption of a healthy and balanced diet had positive effects in terms of improving eating habits and body composition
Summary
Eating habits are defined as how a person or group eats in terms of choices and quantity, and timing; World Health Organization (WHO) dietary guidelines highlight the importance of maintaining a normal Body Mass Index (BMI), eating at least five portions of fruit and vegetables per day, drinking lots of clean water, and limiting intake of sugars [1]. Nutrient timing has been shown to affect athletic performance. Athletes have the tendency not to meet general guidelines in terms of food variety and daily servings of food groups [3]. The optimal amount and the type of food intake are considerably related to each athlete in conjunction with the specific training and sports demand [4]
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