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Nutrition knowledge and skills among young endurance athletes

Year: 2020
Type: dissertation
Study design: Clinical Trial
Abstract: Nutrition plays an important role in athletic performance. Its full potential is rarely realized due to limited nutrition knowledge among athletes and their coaches. Misunderstandings and gaps in knowledge can lead to food choices that do not support athletic development. This thesis study was undertaken to gain further insight into the nutrition knowledge of young Finnish endurance athletes. Another aim was to evaluate how athletes’ knowledge and nutritional skills can be improved. Study I created and validated a questionnaire measuring knowledge in different areas of sports nutrition. This questionnaire was then used in Study II, which aimed to measure the nutrition knowledge of young Finnish endurance athletes and their coaches. The results of Study II were used to develop an education intervention, aiming to improve athletes’ nutrition knowledge and dietary intake, in Study III. The intervention compared the effects of participatory nutrition sessions alone to those enhanced by a mobile app. In Study II, a total of 312 athletes and 94 coaches completed the questionnaire. The athletes were 17.9±1.2 and the coaches 44.3±12.3 years old. Half of the athletes were women and half men; of the coaches 27% were women. Of the athletes 36% were cross country skiers, 35% orienteers and the rest other endurance athletes. Seventy-nine athletes took part in the intervention in Study III. Their mean age was 18.0±1.4 years, 56% of them were men and 44% were women, and 42% were cross-country skiers. The education in the intervention was based on the Self-Determination Theory and the concept of meaningful learning processes. The education sessions included discussions, tasks and goal setting, which were all intended to increase the athletes’ intrinsic motivation. This motivation in turn is a prerequisite for effective learning. The three sessions lasted 90 minutes each and were held fortnightly. The athletes filled in the questionnaire at baseline and a week and three months after the last session. The athletes in the mobile app group used the app for four days after each session and took photos of everything they ate or drank. Both groups completed a three-day food diary at baseline and three months after the last session and received personal feedback on it. On average, the athletes in Study II answered 73% and the coaches 81% of the items correctly. However, over a half of the athletes and 44% of the coaches scored below the mean knowledge score, at worst answering only 47% of the items correctly. The coaches scored better in all sections of the questionnaire. The questions in the ‘Dietary supplements’ section proved to be the most difficult for the athletes, and those in the ‘Nutrition recommendations for endurance athletes’ section for the coaches. The older the athletes were, the higher was their mean nutrition knowledge score. Among the coaches, the situation was the opposite. On average, the female athletes and coaches scored better than the men. The athletes who were part of a national team had higher knowledge scores than those who were not. The athletes’ nutrition knowledge improved significantly during the intervention. At baseline, their knowledge score was 78%. A week after the education sessions, the athletes in the mobile app group answered on average 87% of the questions correctly and three months later, 86%. In the group without the mobile app, the scores were 85% and 84%, respectively. There was no significant difference between the groups in any sections of the questionnaire. The mean energy intake of the athletes was below the estimated energy expenditure during Study III. The intake of protein and fat met the recommendations for endurance athletes, but the intake of carbohydrates was below them (6–10 g·kg-1·day-1) throughout the study, even though it slightly improved. At the end of the intervention, the athletes in the mobile app group consumed 5.4 g·kg-1·day-1 of carbohydrates and the athletes in the other group 5.0 g·kg-1·day-1. Many psychological, social and economic factors affect what we eat. Improved knowledge does not automatically lead to better food choices if the intention to perform the behavioural change is lacking. The duration of the intervention may also have been too short for notable behavioural changes. In addition, already at the beginning of the study the diet of the athletes was better than that of the general Finnish population, thus leaving less room for dietary improvements. Nutrition knowledge improved after only three education sessions and food diary feedback, but the mobile app did not further improve this learning. Thus, if sport clubs and other sport organizations dedicated even a relatively small amount of time and other resources to structured, targeted, motivational and science-based nutrition education, it may promote positive changes in nutrition knowledge. As athletes make use of the skills they learn during their sports careers in their everyday lives as well as when training other athletes, receiving influential nutrition education could also benefit their performance and health in the future.
Language: English
Field: Nursing
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3000323507
Cites: 83
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Related to: 10