School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Via Cadore, 48, 20900 Monza, Italy.
Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, 24129 Bergamo, Italy.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Jul 8;18(14):7313. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18147313.
A balanced diet is a fundamental component of athletes' health, training, and performance. The majority of athletes choose adequate quantities of macronutrients but, at the same time, do not respect World Health Organization dietary guidelines, eating a lot of discretionary food and not drinking enough water. Athletes need more nutritional education to improve the quality of their food choice. By modifying their eating habits, they could also enhance their performance. Our study aimed to evaluate the impact of nutritional intervention on eating habits in a group of Northern Italian athletes. A sample of 87 athletes (41 males and 46 females) aged 16.5 ± 2.9 was enrolled. We organized meetings and detected eating habits (before and after the meetings) using a food frequencies questionnaire. We found that nutritional intervention positively affected participants consumption of vegetables ( < 0.05), nuts ( < 0.001), legumes ( < 0.001), and fish ( < 0.05). Other aspects of the athletes' eating habits were not significantly improved. Some gender differences were found; males increased their consumption of vegetables ( < 0.05) and nuts ( < 0.001), while females increased their intake of legumes ( < 0.001). Our finding suggested that nutritional intervention could promote healthy eating habits among athletes. If sports nutrition experts, coaches, personal trainers, sports medicine experts, and athletes cooperated, they could guarantee athletes' health status.
均衡饮食是运动员健康、训练和表现的基本组成部分。大多数运动员选择摄入足够的宏量营养素，但同时，他们也不遵守世界卫生组织的饮食指南，吃很多随意的食物，而且饮水量不足。运动员需要更多的营养教育来提高他们选择食物的质量。通过改变他们的饮食习惯，他们还可以提高自己的表现。我们的研究旨在评估营养干预对一群意大利北部运动员饮食习惯的影响。招募了 87 名年龄为 16.5 ± 2.9 岁的运动员（41 名男性和 46 名女性）作为样本。我们组织了会议，并使用食物频率问卷来检测饮食习惯（会议前后）。我们发现，营养干预显著影响了参与者蔬菜（<0.05）、坚果（<0.001）、豆类（<0.001）和鱼类（<0.05）的摄入量。运动员饮食习惯的其他方面没有显著改善。还发现了一些性别差异；男性增加了蔬菜（<0.05）和坚果（<0.001）的摄入量，而女性增加了豆类（<0.001）的摄入量。我们的发现表明，营养干预可以促进运动员的健康饮食习惯。如果运动营养专家、教练、私人教练、运动医学专家和运动员能够合作，他们可以保证运动员的健康状况。
