Sports nutrition

The general public's view of macronutrients has undergone sweeping changes in recent years. Dietary fats are a key example. Since the anti-fat health education initiatives of the 1980s and early 1990s, certain dietary fats have been increasingly recognized as actually beneficial to health. Athletes, like the mainstream populace, are now getting the message that wise dietary fat (triacylglycerol) choices offer essential fatty acids, blood lipid management, maintained endocrine and immune function, inflammation control, metabolic effects and even potential body composition and performance benefits...

The scientific literature contains an abundance of information on the nutritional demands of athletes. However, designing the most suitable sports diet is very difficult.The principal aim of this article is to summarize knowledge about sports nutrition, especially the intake of macronutrients and dietary supplements.

Strength and power athletes are primarily interested in enhancing power relative to body weight and thus almost all undertake some form of resistance training. While athletes may periodically attempt to promote skeletal muscle hypertrophy, key nutritional issues are broader than those pertinent to hypertrophy and include an appreciation of the sports supplement industry, the strategic timing of nutrient intake to maximize fuelling and recovery objectives, plus achievement of pre-competition body mass requirements...

Position Statement: Admittedly, research to date examining the physiological effects of meal frequency in humans is somewhat limited. More specifically, data that has specifically examined the impact of meal frequency on body composition, training adaptations, and performance in physically active individuals and athletes is scant. Until more research is available in the physically active and athletic populations, definitive conclusions cannot be made. However, within the confines of the current scientific literature, we assert that:1...