european college of sport science

Thursday, June 25th, 2009
14:15 - 15:15
Poster presentations
PP-NU01 Nutrition 1
NUTRITIONAL ERGOGENIC AIDS USAGE AND NUTRITIONAL KNOWLEDGE IN ELITE FEMALE VOLEYBALL PLAYERS
KARABUDAK, E., KIN-ISLER, A.
BASKENT UN
Introduction: Recently, an increasing use of nutritional ergogenic aids has been observed in various sports, particularly among elite
athletes (Ronsen, et al., 1999). Without much scientific backing, a host of dietary supplements have lately been introduced to fill the proposed
“micronutrient gap” between the daily requirements and the actual dietary intake, targeting both the general population and
specific athletic groups (Rosenbloom et al.,2002). Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine nutritional ergogenic aids usage and
nutritional knowledge among elite female volleyball players.
Methods: Sixty seven volunteer elite female volleyball players, age 15-33 (mean 23.1 ±3.96 years) were included in this study. The instrument
was a questionnaire designed to assess nutritional knowledge of athletes. We developed the instrument using selected questions
from questionnaires created by Zawila et al (2003). Thus, the entire questionnaire contained 78 questions and was scored in a true/false
manner. The questionnaire content consisted of the following: hydration status, macronutrients, vitamins and minerals food variety and
groups, relation to food and health, nutrition training, body composition. Athletes were given another questionnaire including question
about use of nutritional ergogenic aids. For 2-group comparisons, independent t test were used to identify evidence of a significant
difference.
Results: Use of supplements was widespread with 56.7 % of volleyball players declaring supplement use. None of the volleyball players
gave correct responses to the whole total nutrition knowledge (38-60 point, min-max) and subgroups questions except for hydration
questions. The mean total nutrition knowledge score of athletes who usage supplement and who don’t usage supplement were 51.5
±5.47 and 50.5±4.84 points, respectively (mean ± SD). No significant difference was observed between the mean total nutrition knowledge
score and their subgroups score of both groups.
Discussion: Although the results of this study reflect the knowledge of elite female volleyball players and cannot be generalized to all
athletes, they indicate that nutritional knowledge may not have an effect on athletes supplement usage. Athletes are exposed to nutrition
information from multiple sources, and dietetics professionals are in a position to provide accurate and timely information on a variety of
topics of interest to athletes (Ronsen, et al., 1999). Results from this survey suggest that athletes could benefit from learning how supplements
affect performance and should be cautioned that supplements cannot make up for a poor-quality diet.
References
Ronsen, O., Sundgot-Borgen, J., Maehlum, S. (1999). Scand J med Sci sports.9;28-35.
Rosenbloom, CA., Johnlagadda, S., Skınner, R. (2002). JADA. 102(3);418-20.
Zawila, LG., Steib, CSM., Hoogenboom, B. (2003) J Athletic Training. 38(1);67-74.
THE EFFECT OF NUTRITION EDUCATION INTERVENTION ON DIETARY INTAKE AND NUTRITIONAL KNOWLEDGE IN ADO-
LESCENT ATHLETES
KARABUDAK, E., KAYALI, F.
BASKENT UN
Introduction: Previous studies showed that athletes have limited knowledge of nutrition and did not use their knowledge in making proper
food choices (Kunkel et al., 2001). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a nutrition education intervention to
improve nutrition knowledge, to build self-efficacy with respect to making healthful dietary choices, and improve dietary intake in adolescent
male athletes.
Methods: Adolescent male basketball players (n=10, age 10-12 yr) constituted the subjects of this study. All athletes completed the nutrition
knowledge (NK) and nutrition attitude (NA) questionnaires as pre-education in order to evaluate their nutrition status. The true/false
NK test included 17 items related to total calories, macro and micro nutrient, and intake of these components. A total NK scores was
based on the sum of all of the correct answers, worth 1 point each. The purpose of these questionnaires was to gather the baseline data
necessary for the development of an intervention. A 3-day dietary record was also administered with the pre-and post education to
determine any changes in selection of pre-competitions meals, types of fluids consumed prior to and during games, and general dietary
habits. The 3-day diet record was averaged and then analyzed using the computer program. Nutrition education seminars were conducted
by dietitians for 2 months, 1-hour educational session conducted on a monthly basis. At post-education, athletes completed the
same questionnaires. The Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was used to analyze the results between pre-and post nutrition education.
Results: The total possible score for the NK assessment was 17; therefore, the pre-education score was slightly below an average score
(12.9). The total possible score for NA was 56. The mean pre-education score on NA making healthful choices were 46.9. After nutrition
education experienced a significant increase in NK and NA (respectively, 14.3 and 52; p0.05).
Discussion: Adolescent athletes in the present study demonstrated a higher level of knowledge and attitude after nutrition education.
However, the knowledge and attitude did not lend itself to improvement of dietary intake. According to these results, it is believed that
providing adequate and balanced nutrition training starting from childhood with regular intervals decreases the health and performance
problems associated with inadequate and imbalanced nutrition (Barr, 1987; Chapman, et al. 1997).
References
Barr SJ (1987).JADA 87:1660-64.
Chapman P, Toma RB, Tuveson RV, Jacob M. (1997). Adolescence 32;437-46.
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