Energy Balance and Energy Availability
Abstract
This chapter discusses the most general nutritional requirement affecting an athlete's body mass, composition, and fuel stores, namely energy. Necessarily, this discussion of energy focuses on the special need of humans to derive energy from glucose. These limitations are violated at the cost of health and performance, due to hormone-mediated effects on diverse physiological systems. Traditionally, dieticians have studied the effects of dietary energy on the health and performance of athletes in terms of energy balance (EB), defined as dietary energy intake minus total energy expenditure (TEE). The low plasma glucose level in amenorrheic athletes (AmA) is indicative of chronic low energy availability (EA), and more specifically low carbohydrate availability. The chapter focuses on management of EA. A program to increase the EA of an energy-deficient athlete needs to address the specific cause(s) of the energy deficiency in that particular athlete.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Many forms of performance pressure contribute to scenarios that either intentionally or unintentionally alter energy intake and exercise energy expenditure, resulting in low energy availability.
“Many forms of performance pressure contribute to scenarios that either, intentionally or unintentionally, alter energy intake (EI) and exercise energy expenditure (EEE), resulting in low energy availability (LEA).”
From 2023 international olympic committee's (IOC) consensus statement on relative energy deficiency in sport (REDs) (2023) · cites this paper as [4]
A spectrum of energy mismatches, with differing severity of consequences, was part of the original concept of EA.
“A spectrum of energy mismatches, with differing severity of consequences, was part of the original concept of EA. 2 4”
From 2023 international olympic committee's (IOC) consensus statement on relative energy deficiency in sport (REDs) (2023) · cites this paper as [4]
Cites
(2007) · Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise · doi:10.1249/mss.0b013e318149f111 · Cited by 1,554 · see citing works
Self-citationSubstrate Turnover during Prolonged Exercise in Man
Ahlborg, G., Felig, P., Hagenfeldt, L., Hendler, R., & Wahren, J. (1974) · Journal of Clinical Investigation · doi:10.1172/jci107645 · Cited by 786 · see citing works
Metabolic fuels and reproduction in female mammals
Wade, G. N., & Schneider, J. E. (1992) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/s0149-7634(05)80183-6 · Cited by 686 · see citing works
Low energy availability, not stress of exercise, alters LH pulsatility in exercising women
Loucks, A. B., Verdun, M., Heath, E. M., & (With the Technical Assistance of T. Law, S. A. J. R. T. (1998) · Journal of Applied Physiology · doi:10.1152/jappl.1998.84.1.37 · Cited by 539 · see citing works
Self-citationEnergy balance and body composition in sports and exercise
Loucks, A. B. (2004) · Journal of Sports Sciences · doi:10.1080/0264041031000140518 · Cited by 344 · see citing works
Self-citationDe Souza, M. J., Miller, B. E., Loucks, A. B., Luciano, A. A., Pescatello, L. S., Campbell, C. G., & Lasley, B. L. (1998) · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · doi:10.1210/jcem.83.12.5334 · Cited by 315 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Thomas, D. T., Erdman, K. A., & Burke, L. M. (2016) · Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics · doi:10.1016/j.jand.2015.12.006 · Cited by 1,359 · see citing works
Mountjoy, M., Ackerman, K. E., Bailey, D. M., Burke, L. M., Constantini, N., Hackney, A. C., Heikura, I. A., Melin, A., Pensgaard, A. M., Stellingwerff, T., et al. (2023) · British Journal of Sports Medicine · doi:10.1136/bjsports-2023-106994 · Cited by 724 · see citing works
Energy Availability in Athletics: Health, Performance, and Physique
Melin, A. K., Heikura, I. A., Tenforde, A., & Mountjoy, M. (2019) · International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism · doi:10.1123/ijsnem.2018-0201 · Cited by 258 · see citing works
Areta, J. L., Taylor, H. L., & Koehler, K. (2021) · European Journal of Applied Physiology · doi:10.1007/s00421-020-04516-0 · Cited by 214 · see citing works
Recommendations and Nutritional Considerations for Female Athletes: Health and Performance
Holtzman, B., & Ackerman, K. E. (2021) · Sports Medicine · doi:10.1007/s40279-021-01508-8 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
Low‐energy density and high fiber intake are dietary concerns in female endurance athletes
Melin, A., Tornberg, Å. B., Skouby, S., Møller, S. S., Faber, J., Sundgot‐Borgen, J., & Sjödin, A. (2016) · Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports · doi:10.1111/sms.12516 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
- Authors
- Loucks, A. B.
- Affiliations
- Ohio University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Loucks, Anne B.
- Venue
- The Encyclopaedia of Sports Medicine
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2013-10-11
- Pages
- 72-87
- OpenAlex
- W1593153467
- Cited by
- 55
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 2
- Type
- other
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Muscle metabolism and nutrition
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Orthopedics and Sports Medicine › Sports Performance and Training
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Regulation of Appetite and Obesity
- Keywords
- energy balance, energy availability, athletes, energy deficiency, amenorrhea, carbohydrate availability, plasma glucose, energy expenditure, energy intake, sports nutrition
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
