Body composition and nutrition of female athletes

Background: The somatic features of the athletes' bodies partially determine their sporting level and are conditioned to a large extent by the state of nutrition. Objective: The aim of this paper is to present nutritional status and its correlation with the somatic determinants of training athletes and physical education students. Material and methods: This study involved 12 weightlifting players (subgroup-WL), 15 soccer players (subgroup-SP), 12 table tennis players (subgroup-TT) and 12 female students of physical education (subgroup-C). In all subjects, the age and somatic variables were recorded and the daily intake of energy, water, proteins, fats and carbohydrates was determined by 24-h dietary recalls. Results: Although the analysis of variance did not show significant differences in somatic variables and nutrition data, post hoc analysis showed significant differences between some subgroups in terms of age, BMI, fat content (BF), fat-free mass (FFM) and the amount of water, protein and carbohydrates consumed during the day. It was also shown that somatic variables correlated with relatively expressed amounts of energy, proteins and carbohydrates consumed in individual subgroups, as well as in the whole group formed from all subgroups of studied women. In addition, there were significant correlations between somatic variables and the total amount of water consumed in the whole group and the total amount of protein consumed in subgroup C (p<0.05), as well as the total amount of fat consumed in subgroup WL. Conclusions: In summary, it was found that the examined women used an abnormal hypoenergetic diet with too low carbohydrate content in which were more useful relative than absolute amounts of consumed proteins, fats and carbohydrates. In this unfavorable situation, dietary education of the respondents seems to be necessary.

Three-Year Chronic Consumption of Low-Carbohydrate Diet Impairs Exercise Performance and Has a Small Unfavorable Effect on Lipid Profile in Middle-Aged Men.

The objective of this research was to determine whether chronic (average 3.58 ± 1.56 years) deliberate adherence to low carbohydrate diets (LCDs) is associated with selected markers of metabolism, risk factors of cardiovascular disease (CVD), body mass and physical performance in apparently healthy middle-aged men (n = 12). The control group comprised age, body mass and height matched men using mixed diets (MDs). The diets used were registered for 7 days and analyzed in terms of the energy, carbohydrate, fat and protein contents. It was found that the diets used were isoenergetic, yet varied considerably in carbohydrate and fat content. The LCDs significantly intensified the ketogenesis process, increased resting blood total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and heart rate, (HR) and decreased respiratory exchange ratio (RER) in relation to MD subjects. An exercise trial revealed significant impairment of exercise in subjects following the LCDs. The results showed that in the case where the subjects of two investigated groups did not differ in their somatic variables, long-term adherence to the LCDs was associated with substantially reduced exercise performance in apparently healthy subjects, along with an association with a small unfavorable effect on their lipid profile.

A nutritional evaluation of dietary behaviour in various professional sports.

BACKGROUND: The types of physical exertion undertaken by weightlifters and race walkers markedly differ. This difference should also be reflected in their respective diets. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to investigate and assess the diets of professional weightlifters and race walkers, along with a comparison to the diets of those students studying physical education (PE). Materials and Methods. Subjects were respectively 12 weightlifters, 12 race walkers and 12 physical education students whose body composition and nutrition were determined by weighing the foods that were both eaten and drunk. RESULTS: The study groups showed body differences, which may have arisen through dietary differences. Higher calorie diets were observed for race walkers according to body mass whilst weightlifters showed no difference with the other groups. Dietary intakes of protein, fat, and carbohydrates were however inappropriate for all groups. Vitamin and mineral intakes in weightlifters and students were within tolerable limits, but the rather aggressive taking of supplements by race walkers resulted in standard/recommended consumption levels being greatly exceeded in some cases. CONCLUSIONS: The diets of the study groups of weightlifters and race walkers need to be corrected. KEY WORDS: nutrition in sport, weightlifting, race walking, food supplementation.