Nutrition knowledge, attitude and practice of college sportsmen

Nutrition is an important component of any physical fitness program. The main dietary goal for active individuals is to obtain adequate nutrition to optimize health fitness and to increase sports performance. The present study aims to assess the nutrition knowledge, attitude and practice among the selected athletes. Athletes from five different private colleges situated in Salem District, Tamilnadu, India were selected. A total number of 102 athletes, 32 sportsmen belong to Volleyball discipline, 25 belongs to weightlifter discipline and 45 belong to runners discipline in sports. All the selected athletes were including in the study. The Knowledge, Attitude and Practice [KAP] questionnaire contained ten questions about nutrition knowledge, nine questions about attitudes, and ten questions about dietary practice were collected from the selected athletes. Dietary composition of the sportsmen is also assessed. The collected data was coded and used for evaluation. Results about KAP revealed that 42 per cent of the volleyball players had good nutritional knowledge [60-69 per cent] compared to weight lifters [43 per cent] who had satisfactory [50-59per cent] knowledge about nutrition. Twenty nine per cent of the runners had very good [70- 79per cent] knowledge about nutrition. Regarding food consumption pattern intake of cereals, other vegetables and milk was found to be less compared to the RDS for the athletes. Among the three disciplines sports persons, the mean nutrient intake of the runners is high compared to volleyball and weight lifters. The sports disciplines strongly affected the nutrition knowledge, attitudes and practices of sportsmen. The overall scores indicate that most sportsmen had good knowledge of nutrition and supplements

Comparative study on supplementation of potato flour biscuits on the nutritional and cognitive profile of the selected children

Nutrition of the early childhood is of paramount importance because the foundation for life time strength and intellectual vitality is laid during this period. The present study aims to evaluate the effect of weaning biscuits supplementation of the nutritional parameters and cognitive performance of the selected children. Three Balwadies situated in Salem District, Tamilnadu, India were selected. A total number of 40 school children in Grade II malnutrition, 15 from Balwadi I, 14 from Balwadi II and 11 from Balwadi III comprised the study sample. All the 40 were selected for the experimental study. Home diet without any supplementation was followed by Group I [n=10, control group], potato flour biscuit was supplemented to Group II [n=10], Maize biscuits were given to Group III [n=10] and Green gram biscuits were given to Group IV [n=10] for the period of 3 months. Parameters like anthropometric measurements, hemoglobin content and clinical picture were analyzed before and after supplementation, cognitive performance of the supplemented children was assessed at the end of the study period. There was significant difference in height, weight, blood hemoglobin and clinical picture after three months on their home diet in group I. In groups II, III and IV significant increase in all the above parameters was noticed. More increase was found in group II children supplemented with potato flour biscuits for a period of 3 months. About cognitive performance better results were obtained in Group II followed by group IV [supplemented with green gram biscuits] and group III [supplemented with maize biscuits]. Least was obtained by control group children who were in their home diet. All these observations evidence that if such weaning biscuits made with potato flour, maize and green gram can form a daily ingredient in their diets, it will bring out better all round development of the children

Impact of casein and gluten free dietary intervention on selected autistic children

Autism is a life long developmental disorder that emerges in early childhood and results in significant lifelong disability. The goal of treatment is to promote the child's social and language development and minimize behaviors that interfere with the child's functioning and learning. This study evaluated the impact of casein and gluten free diet among selected autistic children. Three private special schools in Salem District, Tamilnadu, India were selected. A total number of 50 autistic children 10 from SIMEC, 10 from MMIC and 30 from CSI comprised the study sample. Background information, clinical history and nutritional status, dietary pattern were collected from the 50 selected autistic children. Out of 50 autistic children 30 autistic children were selected for the dietary intervention. Diet counseling regarding casein free diet was imparted to Group I [n = 10], gluten free diet to Group II [n = 10] and both casein and gluten free diet for Group III [n = 10]. The diet was followed for a period of 2 months. The efficacy of the dietary exclusion of casein and gluten was evaluated using a food and behavior diary on a day to day basis, using observation method. s: Results about Group I autistic children who followed dietary exclusion of casein free diet showed that the mean scores before and after casein free dietary intervention depiticted these improvements as, 1 to 1.2 for attention, 2.8 to 2.9 for sleep, 1.1 to 1.3 for hyperactivity, 1.1 to 1.2 for anxiety/compulsion. For Group II autistic children who followed dietary exclusion of gluten free diet showed the improvements as 1.1 to 1.4 for attention 2.5 to 3 for sleep, 1.7 to 1.9 for hyperactivity, 1.1 to 1.2 for anxiety/compulsion. About Group III autistic children who followed dietary exclusion of both casein and gluten free diet showed the improvements as 1.1 to 1.3 for attention, 2.5 to 2.7 for sleep, 1.3 to 1.7 for hyperactivity, and 1.1 to 1.2 for anxiety/compulsion. The impact of dietary intervention made using dietary guide books found to be useful to reduce various behavior symptoms among the selected autistic children