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Cited by 274Eating Disorders and BehaviorsNutrition, Health and Food BehaviorSports Performance and Training

Low energy availability in athletes: a review of prevalence, dietary patterns, physiological health, and sports performance

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Logue, Danielle, Madigan, Sharon M., Delahunt, Eamonn, Heinen, Mirjam, Mc Donnell, Sarah-Jane, Corish, Clare A.·2018·Sports Medicine
DOI 10.1007/s40279-017-0790-3
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Abstract

In a high-performance sports environment, athletes can present with low energy availability (LEA) for a variety of reasons, ranging from not consuming enough food for their specific energy requirements to disordered eating behaviors. Both male and female high-performance athletes are at risk of LEA. Longstanding LEA can cause unfavorable physiological and psychological outcomes which have the potential to impair an athlete's health and sports performance. This narrative review summarizes the prevalence of LEA and its associations with athlete health and sports performance. It is evident in the published scientific literature that the methods used to determine LEA and its associated health outcomes vary. This contributes to poor recognition of the condition and its sequelae. This review also identifies interventions designed to improve health outcomes in athletes with LEA and indicates areas which warrant further investigation. While return-to-play guidelines have been developed for healthcare professionals to manage LEA in athletes, behavioral interventions to prevent the condition and manage its associated negative health and performance outcomes are required.

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  • Low carbohydrate availability is a separate concern, independent of low energy availability, though they often occur simultaneously.

    “LCA is a separate concern, independent of LEA, though they often occur simultaneously [7].”

    From Considerations of Low Carbohydrate Availability (LCA) to Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) in Female Endurance Athletes: A Narrative Review (2023) · cites this paper as [7]

  • Current findings show a strong correlation between the Female Athlete Triad and negative bone health outcomes, such as increased bone stress injuries and decreased bone mineral density.

    “current findings show a strong correlation between Triad and negative bone health outcomes, such as increased bone stress injuries and decreased BMD [6,7,9,11,14,15,16,17,18].”

    From Considerations of Low Carbohydrate Availability (LCA) to Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) in Female Endurance Athletes: A Narrative Review (2023) · cites this paper as [7]

  • Failure to reach energy balance, or conditions of prolonged low energy availability, can rapidly result in increased risk of injury, illness, overtraining syndrome, and undesired weight loss including muscle mass, impairing training adaptation and performance.

    “Regardless of absolute energy requirements, failure to reach energy balance, or conditions of prolonged low energy availability [17], can rapidly result in an increased risk of injury, illness, overtraining syndrome, and (undesired) weight loss (including muscle mass) [14,19], impairing training adaptation and performance [13,16,17].”

    From Nutritional Considerations for the Vegan Athlete (2023) · cites this paper as [17]

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Authors
Logue, D., Madigan, S. M., Delahunt, E., Heinen, M., Mc Donnell, S.-J., & Corish, C. A.
Affiliations
  • University College Dublin (IE)
  • Sport Ireland Institute (IE)
Corresponding author
Logue, Danielle
ORCID
Venue
Sports Medicine
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2017-10-05
Volume
48
Issue
1
Pages
73-96
ISSN
  • 0112-1642 (ISSN-L)
  • 1179-2035
DOI
10.1007/s40279-017-0790-3
OpenAlex
W2762627760
Cited by
274
References
120
Citations by year
2026: 33 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 38 · 2023: 40 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 44 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 9
FWCI
2.81
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Sports Medicine (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Lenus, The Irish Health Repository (Dr Steevens Hospital Library) (acceptedVersion)
  • Arrow@dit (Dublin Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
  • Research Repository UCD (University College Dublin) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Funders
Irish Research Council (EPS-PG-2015-99)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Orthopedics and Sports Medicine › Sports Performance and Training
Keywords
low energy availability, athletes, disordered eating, dietary habits, athletic performance, athlete health, prevalence, return-to-play guidelines, behavioral interventions, energy requirements, physiological health
MeSH terms
Cross-Sectional Studies, Energy Metabolism, Female, Humans, Male, Nutritional Requirements, Sports, Prevalence, Athletic Performance, Athletes

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