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Low Energy Availability in Athletes 2020: An Updated Narrative Review of Prevalence, Risk, Within-Day Energy Balance, Knowledge, and Impact on Sports Performance

Low energy availability (EA) underpins the female and male athlete triad and relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S). The condition arises when insufficient calories are consumed to support exercise energy expenditure, resulting in compromised physiological processes, such as menstrual irregular...

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Autores principales: Logue, Danielle M., Madigan, Sharon M., Melin, Anna, Delahunt, Eamonn, Heinen, Mirjam, Donnell, Sarah-Jane Mc, Corish, Clare A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7146210/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32245088
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu12030835
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author Logue, Danielle M.
Madigan, Sharon M.
Melin, Anna
Delahunt, Eamonn
Heinen, Mirjam
Donnell, Sarah-Jane Mc
Corish, Clare A.
author_facet Logue, Danielle M.
Madigan, Sharon M.
Melin, Anna
Delahunt, Eamonn
Heinen, Mirjam
Donnell, Sarah-Jane Mc
Corish, Clare A.
author_sort Logue, Danielle M.
collection PubMed
description Low energy availability (EA) underpins the female and male athlete triad and relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S). The condition arises when insufficient calories are consumed to support exercise energy expenditure, resulting in compromised physiological processes, such as menstrual irregularities in active females. The health concerns associated with longstanding low EA include menstrual/libido, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular dysfunction and compromised bone health, all of which can contribute to impaired sporting performance. This narrative review provides an update of our previous review on the prevalence and risk of low EA, within-day energy deficiency, and the potential impact of low EA on performance. The methods to assess EA remain a challenge and contribute to the methodological difficulties in identifying “true” low EA. Screening female athletic groups using a validated screening tool such as the Low Energy Availability in Females Questionnaire (LEAF-Q) has shown promise in identifying endurance athletes at risk of low EA. Knowledge of RED-S and its potential implications for performance is low among coaches and athletes alike. Development of sport and gender-specific screening tools to identify adolescent and senior athletes in different sports at risk of RED-S is warranted. Education initiatives are required to raise awareness among coaches and athletes of the importance of appropriate dietary strategies to ensure that sufficient calories are consumed to support training.
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spelling pubmed-71462102020-04-15 Low Energy Availability in Athletes 2020: An Updated Narrative Review of Prevalence, Risk, Within-Day Energy Balance, Knowledge, and Impact on Sports Performance Logue, Danielle M. Madigan, Sharon M. Melin, Anna Delahunt, Eamonn Heinen, Mirjam Donnell, Sarah-Jane Mc Corish, Clare A. Nutrients Review Low energy availability (EA) underpins the female and male athlete triad and relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S). The condition arises when insufficient calories are consumed to support exercise energy expenditure, resulting in compromised physiological processes, such as menstrual irregularities in active females. The health concerns associated with longstanding low EA include menstrual/libido, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular dysfunction and compromised bone health, all of which can contribute to impaired sporting performance. This narrative review provides an update of our previous review on the prevalence and risk of low EA, within-day energy deficiency, and the potential impact of low EA on performance. The methods to assess EA remain a challenge and contribute to the methodological difficulties in identifying “true” low EA. Screening female athletic groups using a validated screening tool such as the Low Energy Availability in Females Questionnaire (LEAF-Q) has shown promise in identifying endurance athletes at risk of low EA. Knowledge of RED-S and its potential implications for performance is low among coaches and athletes alike. Development of sport and gender-specific screening tools to identify adolescent and senior athletes in different sports at risk of RED-S is warranted. Education initiatives are required to raise awareness among coaches and athletes of the importance of appropriate dietary strategies to ensure that sufficient calories are consumed to support training. MDPI 2020-03-20 /pmc/articles/PMC7146210/ /pubmed/32245088 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu12030835 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Logue, Danielle M.
Madigan, Sharon M.
Melin, Anna
Delahunt, Eamonn
Heinen, Mirjam
Donnell, Sarah-Jane Mc
Corish, Clare A.
Low Energy Availability in Athletes 2020: An Updated Narrative Review of Prevalence, Risk, Within-Day Energy Balance, Knowledge, and Impact on Sports Performance
title Low Energy Availability in Athletes 2020: An Updated Narrative Review of Prevalence, Risk, Within-Day Energy Balance, Knowledge, and Impact on Sports Performance
title_full Low Energy Availability in Athletes 2020: An Updated Narrative Review of Prevalence, Risk, Within-Day Energy Balance, Knowledge, and Impact on Sports Performance
title_fullStr Low Energy Availability in Athletes 2020: An Updated Narrative Review of Prevalence, Risk, Within-Day Energy Balance, Knowledge, and Impact on Sports Performance
title_full_unstemmed Low Energy Availability in Athletes 2020: An Updated Narrative Review of Prevalence, Risk, Within-Day Energy Balance, Knowledge, and Impact on Sports Performance
title_short Low Energy Availability in Athletes 2020: An Updated Narrative Review of Prevalence, Risk, Within-Day Energy Balance, Knowledge, and Impact on Sports Performance
title_sort low energy availability in athletes 2020: an updated narrative review of prevalence, risk, within-day energy balance, knowledge, and impact on sports performance
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7146210/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32245088
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu12030835
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