ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES@#The study aims to assess the dietary habits and nutritional knowledge of selected Philippine national combat sports athletes and determine the correlation of demographics and sources of nutrition information with participants' dietary habits and nutrition knowledge. @*METHODS@#This cross-sectional study included assessing boxing and taekwondo Philippine national athletes using the Dietary Habits and Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire: Filipino Version. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics between sports comparison and exploratory correlation and regression analyses. Alpha was set at 0.05.@*RESULTS@#A total of 44 participants aged 21+ 3.4 years were able to participate in the study. Responses revealed that 69.44% have fair dietary habits and 73.54% have good nutritional knowledge. Results indicated no significant difference between the two sports in dietary habits and nutritional knowledge (p>0.05). Further analyses revealed that years in playing (r= 0.32, p= 0.04), and sources of nutrition information, precisely strength and conditioning coach (r= 0.36, p= 0.02), and peers (r= 0.39, p= 0.01) have a significant correlation with good dietary habit and nutritional knowledge, respectively.@*CONCLUSION@#Overall, Filipino national athletes of boxing and taekwondo have fair dietary habits and sound nutritional knowledge. Furthermore, nutritional knowledge sources are possible relevant factors that may affect the dietary habits and nutritional knowledge of combat sports athletes.