Year: 2023
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The aim of this thesis was to explore the nutrition and nutritional knowledge of young athletes. The nutrition of young athletes was investigated in terms of energy and carbohydrate intake, compared within groups formed by gender, age, training volumes, and sports disciplines. By studying the nutrition and nutritional knowledge of young athletes, it is possible to elucidate the attitudes and values related to nutrition among athletes, parents, and coaches. This investigation also allows for the identification of current trends and other phenomena that are important for the physical, psychological, and social growth and development of young athletes. The subjects of this study were 72 athletes participating in the Training Room Jyväskylä project, who voluntarily completes both a nutritional knowledge questionnaire (Heikkilä et al., 2018) and a three-day continuous food diary. The participating athletes represented football, basketball, volleyball, ice hockey, athletics, artistic gymnastics, and TeamGym. They were born between the years 1988 and 2005 and were divided into three groups based on birth year: born between 1989-1997 (n=10), 1998-2002 (n=30), and 2003-2005 (n=30). The age range of the athletes at the time of data collection was 15–31 years during 2020–2021. Among them, 57 were female and 15 were male. Gender differences were compared using independent sample t-tests, while age’s impact on nutritional knowledge was examined using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). In the nutritional knowledge of young athletes, there were no statistically significant differences between genders or sports groups. A suggestive result was obtained when examining the influence of age on nutritional knowledge (p=0.065), showing that older athletes generally had slightly better nutritional knowledge than younger ones. Moreover, as expected, males had higher energy intake (<0.05**) and carbohydrate intake (<0.05*) compared to females. No Statistically significant associations were found between age, training volume, or sports discipline with energy or carbohydrate intake. In conclusion, there is room for improvement in the nutritional knowledge of young athletes. Coaches and families play a crucial role in the healthy growth and development of young athletes. Further research is needed on potential nutritional risk factors for young athletes, such as relative energy deficiency, to better support the well-being of young athletes through nutrition.
Author: Purma, Kasper
Institution: University of Jyväskylä
Language: English
Subfield: Nutrition and Dietetics
Field: Nursing
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7058631289