A mismatch between athlete practice and current sports nutrition guidelines among elite female and male middle- and long-distance athletes
Abstract
Contemporary nutrition guidelines promote a variety of periodized and time-sensitive recommendations, but current information regarding the knowledge and practice of these strategies among world-class athletes is limited. The aim of this study was to investigate this theme by implementing a questionnaire on dietary periodization practices in national/international level female (n = 27) and male (n = 21) middle- and long-distance runners/race-walkers. The questionnaire aimed to gain information on between and within-day dietary choices, as well as timing of pre- and posttraining meals and practices of training with low or high carbohydrate (CHO) availability. Data are shown as percentage (%) of all athletes, with differences in responses between subgroups (sex or event) shown as Chi-square x 2 when p 2 (1, n = 46) = 4.308, p = .038, phi = 0.3])) reported to undertake training in the fasted state, while 11% said they periodically restrict CHO intake, with 30% ingesting CHO during training sessions. Our findings show that elite endurance athletes appear to execute pre- and post-key session nutrition recovery recommendations. However, very few athletes deliberately undertake some contemporary dietary periodization approaches, such as training in the fasted state or periodically restricting CHO intake. This study suggests mismatches between athlete practice and current and developing sports nutrition guidelines.
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Athletes who practiced periodic carbohydrate restriction had a 9% greater risk of illness and injury compared to athletes who did not practice carbohydrate restriction.
“Athletes who practiced periodic CHO restriction had a 9% greater risk of illness and injury, compared to athletes who did not practice CHO restriction [52].”
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 [52]
In a survey of 46 endurance athletes (27 females), 28% did not feel that periodic CHO restriction benefited overall training.
“Results indicated that 28% and 9% of endurance athletes did not feel that periodic CHO restriction benefited overall training and indicated a greater risk of injury, respectively [52].”
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 [52]
In a survey of 46 endurance athletes (27 females), 9% indicated a greater risk of injury from periodic CHO restriction.
“Results indicated that 28% and 9% of endurance athletes did not feel that periodic CHO restriction benefited overall training and indicated a greater risk of injury, respectively [52].”
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 [52]
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- Authors
- Heikura, I. A., Stellingwerff, T., Mero, A. A., Uusitalo, A. L. T., & Burke, L. M.
- Corresponding author
- Heikura, Ida A.
- Venue
- International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism
- Publisher
- Human Kinetics
- Published
- 2017-08
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 351-360
- ISSN
- 1526-484X (ISSN-L)
- 1543-2742
- OpenAlex
- W2597520259
- Cited by
- 44
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 4.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Bank (Australian Catholic University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Orthopedics and Sports Medicine › Sports Performance and Training
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Muscle metabolism and nutrition
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Keywords
- elite endurance athletes, middle-distance runners, long-distance runners, carbohydrate restriction, protein intake, sex differences, guideline adherence
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Dietary Carbohydrates, Dietary Proteins, Feeding Behavior, Female, Humans, Male, Periodicity, Surveys and Questionnaires, Running, Walking, Nutrition Policy, Young Adult, Athletes, Sports Nutritional Physiological Phenomena
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