Major Article
intake, and r = .95 for total protein intake. When substantial differences in data entry were identified between the 2
research assistants, the dietary records were examined by the
primary investigator and corrections were made in the data
set.
Eating habits of the athletes were evaluated using the
Nutrition Questionnaire (NQ) that has been previously utilized for the Combined Events Athlete Development (CEAD)
project with USA Track & Field athletes. Two sports nutrition researchers reviewed the questionnaire and modifications were made based on their recommendations to ensure
face and content validity of the instrument prior to its utilization in the current study. The NQ included questions about
variety of nutritional practices such as meal/snack frequency
(number of snacks and meals a day), dining out (frequency
per week and type of restaurant), hydration practices (eg, Do
you monitor your body water level? Do you use a schedule
for drinking fluid during competition?), weight management (eg, How do you perceive yourself? Is it difficult or
easy to maintain weight while traveling?), self-evaluation of
diet quality (eg, during training, precompetition, postcompetition). Breakfast consumption was coded according to criteria used in previous research with athletes as any caloric
food/beverage consumed between 6:00 and 8:59 AM on each
of the reported days.16,27
Statistical Analysis
Means, standard deviations, and frequencies were used to
describe the characteristics of the sample. The participants
carbohydrate and protein intakes were compared with the
current minimum sports nutrition recommendations using 1sample t tests (test value of 5 g/kg for carbohydrates and
1.2 g/kg for protein).4,5,13 Paired-sample t test was utilized
to compare participants reported energy intakes with their
estimated energy needs. The proportion of participants meeting the estimated energy needs, the minimum recommendations for carbohydrates, and the minimum recommendations
for protein were calculated. Bivariate Pearsons correlations
were used to explore relationships between specific macronutrient intakes and selected eating habits. All statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS 18.0 for Windows (SPSS,
Chicago, Illinois), with the level of significance set at p <
.05 unless otherwise noted.
RESULTS
Anthropometric and Demographic Characteristics
Fifty-two female collegiate athletes completed all the measurements and provided dietary data for the study, reaching
84% of the target population (n = 62). Seven participants
being excluded from the final statistical analyses because
their 3-day food records did not include sufficient information. The demographic and anthropometric characteristics of
the sample are presented in Table 1. The mean age of the
participants in years was M = 20.0, SD = 1.5. The sample
consisted of soccer players (45%), basketball players (40%),
JOURNAL OF AMERICAN COLLEGE HEALTH
Race
Caucasian
33
African American 10
Hispanic
1
Other
1
Age (years)
Body mass (kg)
Height (cm)
Body fat
aResults
SD
Range
73
22
2
2
20.0 1.5 18.023.0
66.4 11.0 47.499.4
170.4 8.7 152.7189.1
19.5 3.7 11.927.8
M a,b
SD
Range
1,939
30
54
257
4.0
16
77
1.2
31
69
1.1
604
10
6
77
1.0
3
22
0.4
6
29
0.5
8353,322
1652
3867
103460
1.86.5
1224
47133
0.61.9
1848
25143
0.42.4
Eating Habits
The participants consumed 5.0 1.3 meals/snacks per
day (2.80 0.7 and 2.2 1.2, respectively). More than
one-third of the athletes (36%) reported consuming fewer
than 5 meals/snacks a day, 29% of athletes ate less than 3
meals a day, and 27% had fewer than 2 snacks a day. There
was a significant positive correlation between the number of
meals/snacks and the intake of carbohydrates relative to body
weight (r = .47, p < .001), protein (r = .53, p < .001), and fat
(r = .36, p < .05). Regular breakfast was reported by 27% of
the sample, with participants consuming breakfast cereal and
sausage and biscuits most frequently. The mean frequency
of dining out was 5.4 times per week, with the most frequent
dining places being sandwich shops (eg, Panera, Quiznos)
(31%), Mexican restaurants (29%), and fast food restaurants
(eg, McDonalds, Taco Bell) (20%). There was a significant
negative correlation between the frequency of dining out and
carbohydrate intake, regardless of how carbohydrate intake
was expressed (r = .46, p < .001 for % of total energy; r =
.27, p < .05 for total carbohydrate intake; and r = .33,
p < .05 for g/kg of carbohydrates). The frequency of dining
out was also significantly associated with the proportion of
energy coming from dietary fat (r = .48, p < .001).
Only 16% of the participants reported monitoring hydration status on a regular basis. Before a workout, 60% of the
participants reported consuming 1 to 2 cups of fluids, with
31% consuming more than 3 cups of fluids. During exercise,
58% reported consuming less than 2 cups of fluids, with 3
athletes consuming no fluids. Forty-four percent of the participants reported consuming 3 to 5 cups of fluids and 16%
reported consuming more than 5 cups of fluids after their
training sessions. Nearly none of the participants reported
following a drinking schedule during a competition (95%).
Forty-four percent of the participants (n = 20) evaluated
their diet as good, with 56% stating their diet was fair or
poor. Some of the participants found it difficult to follow a
training diet when traveling (22%). The majority of the participants evaluated their weight as healthy and reported no
dieting in the previous 12 months (91%). However, 33% of
the participants expressed a desire to lose weight. Although
most participants found the maintenance of their weight during the season to be somewhat or very easy, 29% found the
weight maintenance to be difficult.
13
COMMENT
The main purpose of this study was to examine dietary intakes and eating habits in a sample of female college athletes
and compare them with the current sports nutrition guidelines.4 Nearly all athletes in the sample failed to match their
energy intakes with their estimated energy needs. The majority of them also failed to meet their carbohydrates needs, even
though only the minimum carbohydrate recommendations
for athletes were used in the study.10 Our findings indicate
that greater efforts should be focused on increasing sports
nutrition knowledge and improving eating habits among female college athletes in order to optimize their nutritional
status, ensure proper recovery from daily training sessions,
and help them reach their performance potential.
The proportion of energy from carbohydrates, protein and
fat reported in our study fell within the AMDRs for general
population. Although these findings are consistent with the
very few previous studies that were conducted with female
athletes,2,16,23 these results do not offer helpful information
about their dietary intakes. For instance, 53% of total energy from carbohydrates reported by our female athletes falls
within the AMDR and may represent an adequate carbohydrate intake for healthy recreationally active women. However, female athletes in our study consumed only 4.0 g/kg
of carbohydrates, which is not an adequate amount for replenishing liver and muscle glycogen for daily training at
any point of the year.5,13 The low carbohydrate intake in our
sample is further illustrated by the fact that 35 out of 45 athletes consumed less than 5 g/kg of carbohydrates. A similar
trend has been reported in 2 previous studies with elite female athletes.6,10 The proportion of energy from dietary fat
was within the AMDR of 20%35% in our sample. Some
experts also suggest that athletes should keep their dietary
fat intakes under 30% of total energy in order to ensure adequate carbohydrate and protein intakes.13 In our study, 24%
of the female athletes reported dietary fat intakes above 35%
of total energy. Thus, it is possible that the relatively high
dietary fat intake compromised the amount of carbohydrates
consumed by the athletes. It is also important to note that
the proportion of energy from dietary fat was positively correlated with the frequency of dining out, which could be
explained by the frequent dining in Mexican restaurants and
fast food restaurants that was reported in our study.
The mean protein intake of the female athletes in our study
was not significantly below the minimum recommended level
of 1.2 g/kg. However, a further analysis revealed that more
than half of the female athletes consumed less protein than
recommended. This finding illustrates a common problem
with interpreting dietary assessment data using group mean
intakes. In a study by Hinton and Beck,25 a sample of female
athletes, including individuals categorized as having restrictive eating patterns, reported mean protein intakes of 1.3 to
1.7 g/kg. However, it is likely that a significant number of the
athletes failed to meet the minimum protein needs of 1.2 g/kg.
Similarly, a study by Heaney et al10 showed that elite female
athletes consumed an average of 1.6g/kg of protein; however,
14
16
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