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Food Choice Decisions of Collegiate Division I Athletes: A Qualitative Exploratory Study

Limited research has examined athletes’ food and health beliefs and decisions and the congruence of these decisions with recommendations from nutrition professionals. This study aimed to improve understanding of athletes’ food-related beliefs and practices to enable nutrition professionals to more e...

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Autores principales: Eck, Kaitlyn M., Byrd-Bredbenner, Carol
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8308813/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34371832
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu13072322
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author Eck, Kaitlyn M.
Byrd-Bredbenner, Carol
author_facet Eck, Kaitlyn M.
Byrd-Bredbenner, Carol
author_sort Eck, Kaitlyn M.
collection PubMed
description Limited research has examined athletes’ food and health beliefs and decisions and the congruence of these decisions with recommendations from nutrition professionals. This study aimed to improve understanding of athletes’ food-related beliefs and practices to enable nutrition professionals to more effectively enhance performance while protecting athletes’ health. Division I college athletes (n = 14, 64% female) from a variety of sports were recruited to participate in 20-min semi-structured phone interviews about food and nutrition-related behaviors and cognitions. Data were content analyzed to identify themes and trends. Prominent factors influencing athletes’ food choices were potential benefits to health and performance, availability of foods, and recommendations from sports dietitians. Foods commonly consumed by athletes, including fruits, vegetables, and lean protein, were generally healthy and aligned with sports nutrition recommendations. Athletes avoided energy-dense nutrient-poor foods, such as fast food and fried foods, with the goal of improving performance. Some athletes took supplements (i.e., multivitamin, iron, protein) on the premise that they would improve health and enhance performance or recovery. While athletes’ nutrition behaviors are generally congruent with current recommendations, findings highlighted misconceptions held by athletes related to the benefits of some supplements and the belief that packaged/processed foods were inherently less healthy than other options. Nutrition misconceptions held by athletes and incongruities between athletes’ nutrition knowledge and behaviors suggest that dietitians should aim to dispel misconceptions held by athletes and provide additional guidance and information to support athletes’ current healthful behaviors to ensure these behaviors extend beyond their college athletic career.
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spelling pubmed-83088132021-07-25 Food Choice Decisions of Collegiate Division I Athletes: A Qualitative Exploratory Study Eck, Kaitlyn M. Byrd-Bredbenner, Carol Nutrients Article Limited research has examined athletes’ food and health beliefs and decisions and the congruence of these decisions with recommendations from nutrition professionals. This study aimed to improve understanding of athletes’ food-related beliefs and practices to enable nutrition professionals to more effectively enhance performance while protecting athletes’ health. Division I college athletes (n = 14, 64% female) from a variety of sports were recruited to participate in 20-min semi-structured phone interviews about food and nutrition-related behaviors and cognitions. Data were content analyzed to identify themes and trends. Prominent factors influencing athletes’ food choices were potential benefits to health and performance, availability of foods, and recommendations from sports dietitians. Foods commonly consumed by athletes, including fruits, vegetables, and lean protein, were generally healthy and aligned with sports nutrition recommendations. Athletes avoided energy-dense nutrient-poor foods, such as fast food and fried foods, with the goal of improving performance. Some athletes took supplements (i.e., multivitamin, iron, protein) on the premise that they would improve health and enhance performance or recovery. While athletes’ nutrition behaviors are generally congruent with current recommendations, findings highlighted misconceptions held by athletes related to the benefits of some supplements and the belief that packaged/processed foods were inherently less healthy than other options. Nutrition misconceptions held by athletes and incongruities between athletes’ nutrition knowledge and behaviors suggest that dietitians should aim to dispel misconceptions held by athletes and provide additional guidance and information to support athletes’ current healthful behaviors to ensure these behaviors extend beyond their college athletic career. MDPI 2021-07-06 /pmc/articles/PMC8308813/ /pubmed/34371832 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu13072322 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/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 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Eck, Kaitlyn M.
Byrd-Bredbenner, Carol
Food Choice Decisions of Collegiate Division I Athletes: A Qualitative Exploratory Study
title Food Choice Decisions of Collegiate Division I Athletes: A Qualitative Exploratory Study
title_full Food Choice Decisions of Collegiate Division I Athletes: A Qualitative Exploratory Study
title_fullStr Food Choice Decisions of Collegiate Division I Athletes: A Qualitative Exploratory Study
title_full_unstemmed Food Choice Decisions of Collegiate Division I Athletes: A Qualitative Exploratory Study
title_short Food Choice Decisions of Collegiate Division I Athletes: A Qualitative Exploratory Study
title_sort food choice decisions of collegiate division i athletes: a qualitative exploratory study
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8308813/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34371832
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu13072322
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