Sports Nutrition

 

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Nutritional Recommendations for Athletes

Nutrition is very important to every athlete, and at high levels, where talent and training are relatively equal, it can be the difference between winning and losing. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) published data they complied from multiple sources on recommended nutrition for athletes in which they state, “that physical activity, athletic performance, and recovery from exercise are enhanced by optimal nutrition.” Therefore, athletes are advised to take a careful look at their daily intake of food to make sure their body is getting the nutrients it needs to repair, maintain, and build muscle. There are many recommendations for what athletes should be eating but below we looked at the ACSM and the U.S Anti-doping Agency (USADA) official recommendations.

Overall, the most important recommendation is that an athlete needs to track the amount of energy they are expending each day and make sure they are replacing this energy with a balanced diet of carbohydrates, protein, and fat. The recommended replenishment for maintaining carbohydrate levels in the body is eating 0.68 grams per pound of body weight within the first 30 minutes after training and again every two hours for four hours . For example if a 180 lb. athlete completes their training for the day they need to have a meal/snack with about 122 g of carbohydrates, which could be a multi-grain bagel with peanut butter and an oatmeal bar Importantly, studies have shown it is not necessary for athletes who rest one or two days in between training bouts to follow this post training carbohydrate recommendation as long as they are they are meeting their daily requirements, which are explained below.

The ACSM, and many other publications, recommend that an athlete should never train on an empty stomach. They recommend that an athlete eat between 200 and 300 g of carbohydrate three to four hours prior to exercising . The USADA says to add in small amounts of protein to help slow the breakdown of carbohydrates and aid in regulating energy levels by sending carbohydrates to muscles at a steadier rate throughout the training. However, they also say this is up to the athlete and the size of the meal they can tolerate before training. Athletes should experiment with different pre-training meals to find what they feel comfortable with and eat that meal at a time consistent to when they eat the pre-training meal before a game.

Research has shown a strong benefit to endurance performance for athlete performing in events lasting longer than one hour if they eat about 30-60 grams of carbohydrates every hour during the event . This equates to eating a banana, a food bar, or something with equal carbohydrates every hour. The ACSM takes it even further and says it is much more beneficial to the body’s energy storage to eat small snacks or bites of carbohydrates every 15-20 minutes (about 10-20 grams each time) rather than waiting and eating 60-120 grams every two hours.The USADA says an athlete can intake 6-12 ounces of a sports drink that has 6-8% carbohydrates to water ratio. Anything greater than a 10% ratio increases the likelihood of cramps and an upset stomach.

Eating Disorders and Body Image in Athletes

Athletes may have a more positive body image than nonathletes.  A meta-analytic review found a small effect size which indicated athletes had a more positive body image than nonathletes.  The review found no difference between females or males, the type of athlete, age or body mass index .  Those who exercise regularly like athletes have been found to have a more positive body image than those who do not

Despite athletes overall having a more positive body image than nonathletes, they may be more likely to develop an eating disorder.  Researchers compared the pevalence of eating disorders between 1620 male and female elite athletes with 1696 male and female controls.  They found 13.5% of athletes had eating disorders compared with 4.6% of the controls.  Females athletes were also more likely to have eating disorders than males.  Those in aesthetic sports such as gymnastics, dancing, figure skating, aerobics and diving or sports with weight classes were more likely to have an eating disorder than those in endurance, technical or ball game sports .

The treatment of athletes requires a multidisciplinary appoach.  Coordination and support ideally should be provided from sports medicine professionals, athletic trainers, dieticians, psychiatrists, coaching staff, teammates and those close to the athlete.  Cognitive behavioral therapy, psychodynamic psychotherapy and medications such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and atypical antispsychotics may also be used .  Eating disorders should be treated like sports injuries and require prevention, screening programs, correct treatment and timely support .

Recent Related Research (from Pubmed)

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References

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