Athlete Nutrition Themes

Athletes often overlook the energy demands of daily training sessions. Total calories required are considerably increased for the training and competing athlete versus the average person, but it should be done in the proper % to total daily intake. If sufficient calories are not included in the diet, an athlete will lose to much weight, become fatigued more quickly and performance will

Nutrition and fatigue are two major areas of exercise and sport. Sport and nutrition together can be a major factor in preventing fatigue, and maintaining a good diet can help keep the athlete consistent with training and performance without the training load being too detrimental and leaving the athlete with excessive fatigue, illness or recurring injuries. Training and eating becomes a cycle of preparation and recovery, with meals and snacks consumed after one session becoming the pre-event meal for a subsequent workout. The ingestion of carbohydrates, fats and proteins all aid in the promotion of optimal training and performance. As well as food fuels, recovery is a significantly important factor in regards to having an adequate training session or

The benefit of adequate nutrition contributing to successful athletic performance is well known, but not completely understood and applied among athletes. The purpose of this study was to assess nutrient intakes, and dietary habits

Nutrition in sports can have a huge impact on your performance over time, which is different from an athlete to the other, an athlete with good nutrition will improve much faster than an athlete with poor nutrition.

Overall, all the participants did not meet recommendations for CHO, Vitamin A, D, C, B1, and B6 during training and, in addition, women did not consume the recommendations for PRO, calcium, iron, and zinc.5 Furthermore, during the race 75% of the runners doing the 60- km race fell short on getting the recommend CHO. For the 120-km runners, 3 of the 4 men took in greater than 500 ml/h of fluid, which met recommendations, but only 1 runner took in greater than the recommended CHO during the race (108 g/hr). One major limitation of this study is that the four runners PRO, sodium, and fat intakes weren’t recorded during the 120-km

Good nutrition and its role in positively affecting athletic performance has become more and more evident almost daily. Specific macro and micronutrients are better understood as to their specific functions within the body and from that how they can influence the body’s ability to perform while under duress. An example of such would be the stress of athletic performance. Vitamin D, which is also referred to as cholecalciferol, is one of the fat soluble vitamins that have been attributed to influencing athletic performance. However, vitamin D is not as much a “performance enhancing” nutrient in the sense that when taken in higher amounts it will aid athletic performance, but rather when in deficient amounts it can hinder athletic

In this metabolic study, eight men and eight women, whom were competitive, healthy cyclists were selected. This crossover study was conducted on four separate days, each time the participants were told to do light exercise the previous day and eat a typical prerace meal one to two hours prior to the experiment. At random each was given one of three carbohydrate supplements (sports

It is known that the diet of an athlete can have an effect on his/her overall performance(Bronci; 2011).Athletes, who have healthy and balanced diets, can perform better due to having adequate nutrient stores built up in their

Athletes need to take care of their bodies to perform well and to stay healthy. Taking care of their bodies means having a healthy diet. It’s a strong belief that diet can positively affect an athlete's overall performance. But this is a belief that isn’t backed up by any solid scientific data. “many athletes believe vegetarianism does improve their stamina, mental alertness, ability to recover from injuries, and overall general health.” Athletes who eat vegetables and all around healthier food usually perform better due to being healthier in general. The diet of an athlete is crucial in their well being though. Athletes are constantly building muscles so they need their bodies to be very healthy. To be very healthy, you need to be

Carbohydrates provides glucose used for energy, making it the most important fuel source. Because glucose is stored as glycogen in muscles and liver, therefore young athletes meals should contain 45% to 65% of total caloric intake. Carbohydrates include vegetables ,fruits ,milk, whole grain, and yogurt. While protein is used to build and repair muscle, hair, skin and nails. But during short extend of exercise and mellow exercise, protein does not act as the key source of energy. But meals should contain 10% to 30% of total energy, yet can be found in lean meal, dairy products, nuts, and poultry. Last macronutrient would be fats, to compose fat-soluble vitamins, to provide essential fatty acids, provide insulation, and protect vital organs. Fat should be made up of 25% to 35% of total energy intake, and good sources of fats include fish, lean meat, poultry, and olive and canola oil. Fats from fried food, baked goods, chips and candy should be

The athletes were randomly assigned their diet and asked to make two separate groups, one vegetarian group and one high protein group. In each different group, their specific diet and meal plans were discussed. It is important to ensure the participants know the foods they can and cannot have to ensure the most accurate results. The participants were asked to follow the diet plans given to them for a span of two weeks. After one week, the participants were asked to gather back in the Riley Great Room to discuss how the meal plans were working for them and to see if they had any questions. After another week passed, the participants were asked to return to the Riley Great Room one last time to officially end the study. The participants were asked to rate their average energy level over the last two weeks. The results between diets were compared.

Carbohydrates should be considered the most importance macronutrient that should be consumed post exercise, not only as it is a major fuel source in the supply the aerobic (oxidative) system, but it being the only fuel source in anaerobic glycolic system, both of which are heavily utilized in basketball (CITE). In addition, carbohydrates have the ability to muscle protein, muscle glycogen and liver glycogen sparing mechanisms (CITE). During games players, such as LeBron, experience quick bursts of movement over a long duration, which require quick muscle contractions to produce quick movements throughout the game. Therefore, during games in order to produce repetitive quick movements, both anaerobically and aerobically, the muscles heavily rely on carbohydrate metabolism within the muscle and liver to supply ATP as carbohydrates can be readily broken down within the muscle in the mitochondria, the bodies greatest store of muscle glycogen, where it is the muscle glycogen can produce ATP for the muscle three times as rapid (CITE). In addition, the liver is able to metabolize glycogen which can be absorbed into the skeletal muscles rapidly due to specialized transport proteins glucose transporter (GLUT-4), where increased contractions and movement results in increased recruitment (CITE). In order for muscles, especially, to be able to metabolize ATP via muscle glycogen during exercise it is essential muscle glycogen stores are filled back up post exercise in order to sustain high performance and duration for the next performance. Without proper replenishment, specifically of muscle glycogen, post exercise, the output of hepatic glucose decreases at every level of intensity, meaning both intensity and duration are unable to be maintained during the next bout and decreased overall performance (CITE).

The answer to whether the athletes are consuming adequate nutrition is somewhat muddled. Based on the current recommendations4 none of the athletes met all the macronutrient requirements; this would suggest that the athletes are not getting the required nutrients. Unfortunately, several of these studies show huge discrepancies in the amounts of macronutrients that recreational runners and the elite runners consume.5,3 Elite athletes (who are running much faster) may need to consume greater amounts of macronutrients, so closer to the current recommendations, but for the recreational athletes (who are running much slower) a different set of guidelines based on their individual

The food that provides the athletes and even us for that matter the energy are mainly Carbohydrates, Proteins, and Fats.

Footballers nutritional needs play an important role in becoming an elite player, in fact the importance is so highly important that every elite level player knows it’s importance and follows a specific diet in their respective clubs and their personal lives. One of the greatest managers to ever grace the game Arsene Wenger has also mentioned “food is like kerosene. If you put the wrong one in your car, it’s not as quick as it should be” (Wegner, 2003). To create a perfect diet different factors should also be considered such as timing of every meal, the amount of calories and carbs needed, hydration, micro nutrients, vitamins, fats and protein. All these