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Nutrition for Special Populations: Young, Female, and Masters Athletes
Open accessAbstract
Adolescent, female, and masters athletes have unique nutritional requirements as a consequence of undertaking daily training and competition in addition to the specific demands of age- and gender-related physiological changes. Dietary education and recommendations for these special population athletes require a focus on eating for long-term health, with special consideration given to “at-risk” dietary patterns and nutrients (e.g., sustained restricted eating, low calcium, vitamin D and/or iron intakes relative to requirements). Recent research highlighting strategies to address age-related changes in protein metabolism and the development of tools to assist in the management of Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport are of particular relevance to special population athletes. Whenever possible, special population athletes should be encouraged to meet their nutrient needs by the consumption of whole foods rather than supplements. The recommendation of dietary supplements (particularly to young athletes) overemphasizes their ability to manipulate performance in comparison with other training/dietary strategies.
Overview
CoChat Summary
TL;DR
Adolescent, female, and masters athletes have distinct nutritional requirements shaped by growth, reproductive hormones, and aging. The review emphasizes adequate energy availability, whole-food-based intake, protein distribution, and the need for more female- and masters-specific research.
Key findings
- Adolescent athletes: group energy expenditure estimates are ~3,640 ± 830 kcal/day for males and ~3,100 ± 720 kcal/day for females; low energy availability is common and may lead to delayed puberty, menstrual irregularities, poor bone health, short stature, disordered eating, and increased injury risk. Protein intake of ~0.11 g·kg⁻¹·hr⁻¹ postexercise or ~1.5 g·kg⁻¹·day⁻¹ may suffice if energy needs are met.
- Masters athletes: aging brings sarcopenia and anabolic resistance; protein recommendations for strength/power gains are ≥1.2 g·kg⁻¹·day⁻¹, with a daily target of ~1.5–1.6 g·kg⁻¹·day⁻¹ and ~0.4 g/kg high-quality protein per meal. Male endurance athletes require 1.6–1.8 g·kg⁻¹·day⁻¹, with young women requiring ~25% lower intakes due to estrogen-mediated decreases in amino acid oxidation; carbohydrate loading may work if >8.0 g·kg⁻¹·day⁻¹ is consumed.
- Female athletes: low energy availability is particularly risky due to reproductive hormone effects; menstrual cycle and hormonal contraceptives influence substrate metabolism, and luteal-phase fluid retention may increase body weight by 2–2.5 kg. Pregnancy energy needs increase by 150, 200, and 300 kcal/day in underweight women and 0, 350, and 500 kcal/day in normal-weight women across trimesters.
- General guidance: special-population athletes should meet nutrient needs through whole foods rather than supplements when possible, especially young athletes; RED-S management tools and age-related protein strategies are highlighted as relevant.
Methods
- Not stated in the paper; no systematic review design, dataset, sample, or main analysis is described. The article presents a discussion of cited literature.
Limitations
- Stated: individual energy requirements of adolescent athletes are difficult to define precisely due to metabolic variability and methodological difficulties in estimating intake and expenditure; no evidence determines whether fluid intake modulates heat illness risk in adolescent athletes; no study has specifically evaluated protein requirements in older (>65 years) masters athletes; female-specific nutrition research is limited, and much substrate metabolism/menstrual cycle/oral contraceptive research is ~20 years old, conflicting, and methodologically inconsistent.
- Evident: the paper is a narrative overview without systematic methods, and it notes that the majority of sports-specific nutrition research is conducted in male athletes.
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Claims the paper makes
0 Valid · 1 Not valid · 53 Not checked · 13 Own results and interpretations
In the paper
“Children and adolescents appear to rely more on peripheral blood redistribution (radiative and conductive cooling) rather than sweating (evaporative cooling) to maintain thermal equilibrium (Falk & Dotan, 2008).”
§ Nutrition for Special Populations: Young, Female, and Masters Athletes > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Falk & Dotan, 2008 source
hedgedstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
In the paper
“It has been reported that up to ∼30% of male athletes over age 50 years have some level of testosterone deficiency (Di Luigi et al., 2010)”
§ Nutrition for Special Populations: Young, Female, and Masters Athletes > Physiological Changes in Masters Athletes
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Di Luigi et al., 2010 source
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Fluid shifts of this magnitude have the potential to effect exercise performance.”
§ Nutrition for Special Populations: Young, Female, and Masters Athletes > Nutritional Needs for Adolescent Athletes
hedgedstates a possible cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“it is difficult to define the individual energy requirements of an adolescent athlete with precision due to metabolic variability within and between individuals (Petrie et al., 2004) and methodological difficulties in estimating both energy intake and energy expenditure (Burke et al., 2001).”
§ Nutrition for Special Populations: Young, Female, and Masters Athletes > Abstract
What the sources say
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
In the paper
“In additional to enhancing the response to the stimulus of exercise training (Witard et al., 2018), adolescents have additional protein requirements to support general growth and development (Aerenhouts et al., 2011).”
§ Nutrition for Special Populations: Young, Female, and Masters Athletes > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Aerenhouts et al., 2011 source
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
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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?
In the citing paper
“In developing athletes, LEA may lead to a number of serious health consequences, including delayed puberty, menstrual irregularities, poor bone health, short stature, the development of disordered eating behaviours, and increased risk of injury [31].”
From Youth Athlete Development and Nutrition (2021) · cites this paper as [31]
In the citing paper
“Protein intake was below the recommended levels for masters athletes, except for female athletes involved in power events (i.e., sprinters and jumpers).”
From Dietary Intake of Athletes at the World Masters Athletics Championships as Assessed by Single 24 h Recall (2024) · cites this paper as [3]
In the citing paper
“Fat and saturated fat intake were at acceptable levels, but omega-3 fatty acid intake was below the level recommended for masters athletes [2,3].”
From Dietary Intake of Athletes at the World Masters Athletics Championships as Assessed by Single 24 h Recall (2024) · cites this paper as [3]
In the citing paper
“Increased energy demands from sport participation warrant the need for optimal nutrition intake to support athletic performance, improve recovery, reduce physical and mental fatigue, and reduce the risk of injury [2,10,11].”
From General and sport-specific nutrition knowledge and behaviors of adolescent athletes (2025) · cites this paper as [10]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.
Rated minor: it would not touch a result — a value no result rests on, a p-value that stays on the same side of the significance level, or a conflict that is clerical, resolved elsewhere in the paper, or outside its own findings.
In the paper
§ Nutrition for Special Populations: Young, Female, and Masters Athletes > Nutritional Needs for Female Athletes
“which could lead to a slightly lower protein requirement in female athletes who rely on oxidative metabolism for their discipline when this hormone is low and/or progesterone is high.”
§ Nutrition for Special Populations: Young, Female, and Masters Athletes > Nutritional Needs for Female Athletes
“estrogen has been shown to have a proteinsparing effect by reducing the reliance on amino acid oxidation”
Citations
Cites
Adolescence: A foundation for future health
Sawyer, S. M., Afifi, R. A., Bearinger, L. H., Blakemore, S.-J., Dick, B., Ezeh, A. C., & Patton, G. C. (2012) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(12)60072-5 · Cited by 2,635
Mountjoy, M., Sundgot-Borgen, J., Burke, L., Carter, S., Constantini, N., Lebrun, C., Meyer, N., Sherman, R., Steffen, K., Budgett, R., et al. (2014) · British Journal of Sports Medicine · doi:10.1136/bjsports-2014-093502 · Cited by 1,469 · cited 1×
“Although the Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport paradigm (Mountjoy et al., 2014) has been linked with adverse physiologicaland performance-related outcomes in men, the synergistic effects of low EA on reproductive hormones put females particularly at risk of negative outcomes.”
BackgroundMorton, R. W., Murphy, K. T., McKellar, S. R., Schoenfeld, B. J., Henselmans, M., Helms, E., Aragon, A. A., Devries, M. C., Banfield, L., Krieger, J. W., et al. (2018) · British Journal of Sports Medicine · doi:10.1136/bjsports-2017-097608 · Cited by 1,269
British Journal Of Sports Medicine
MacNeil, J. (2015) · Wilderness & Environmental Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.wem.2014.12.005 · Cited by 869
Nilwik, R., Snijders, T., Leenders, M., Groen, B. B. L., van Kranenburg, J., Verdijk, L. B., & van Loon, L. J. C. (2013) · Experimental Gerontology · doi:10.1016/j.exger.2013.02.012 · Cited by 776
Artal, R., & O'Toole, M. (2003) · British Journal of Sports Medicine · doi:10.1136/bjsm.37.1.6 · Cited by 726
International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: protein and exercise
Campbell, B., Kreider, R. B., Ziegenfuss, T., La Bounty, P., Roberts, M., Burke, D., Landis, J., Lopez, H., & Antonio, J. (2007) · Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · doi:10.1186/1550-2783-4-8 · Cited by 716
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
The aging neuromuscular system and motor performance
Hunter, S. K., Pereira, H. M., & Keenan, K. G. (2016) · Journal of Applied Physiology · doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00475.2016 · Cited by 532
Testosterone Replacement Increases Fat-Free Mass and Muscle Size in Hypogonadal Men1
Bhasin, S., Storer, T. W., Berman, N., Yarasheski, K. E., Clevenger, B., Phillips, J., Lee, W. P., Bunnell, T. J., & Casaburi, R. (1997) · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · doi:10.1210/jcem.82.2.3733 · Cited by 522
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Witard, O., Garthe, I. & Phillips, S. (2018). Protein for adaptation and physique manipulation in athletics. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism.
Cited by
International Association of Athletics Federations Consensus Statement 2019: Nutrition for Athletics
Burke, L. M., Castell, L. M., Casa, D. J., Close, G. L., Costa, R. J. S., Desbrow, B., Halson, S. L., Lis, D. M., Melin, A. K., Peeling, P., et al. (2019) · International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism · doi:10.1123/ijsnem.2019-0065 · Cited by 258
Self-citationYouth Athlete Development and Nutrition
Desbrow, B. (2021) · Sports Medicine · doi:10.1007/s40279-021-01534-6 · Cited by 159
Self-citationPrecision Fermentation as an Alternative to Animal Protein, a Review
Knychala, M. M., Boing, L. A., Ienczak, J. L., Trichez, D., & Stambuk, B. U. (2024) · Fermentation · doi:10.3390/fermentation10060315 · Cited by 148
International society of sports nutrition position stand: nutritional concerns of the female athlete
Sims, S. T., Kerksick, C. M., Smith-Ryan, A. E., Janse de Jonge, X. A. K., Hirsch, K. R., Arent, S. M., Hewlings, S. J., Kleiner, S. M., Bustillo, E., Tartar, J. L., et al. (2023) · Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · doi:10.1080/15502783.2023.2204066 · Cited by 129
“physical performance has resulted in a growing body of research that addresses these issues across the lifespan [12,13].”
BackgroundImpact of Vitamin D on Physical Efficiency and Exercise Performance—A Review
Wiciński, M., Adamkiewicz, D., Adamkiewicz, M., Śniegocki, M., Podhorecka, M., Szychta, P., & Malinowski, B. (2019) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu11112826 · Cited by 84
Metadata
- Authors
- Desbrow, B., Burd, N. A., Tarnopolsky, M., Moore, D. R., & Elliott-Sale, K. J.
- Affiliations
- Griffith University (AU)
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- McMaster University Medical Centre (CA)
- University of Toronto (CA)
- Nottingham Trent University (GB)
- Venue
- International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism
- Publisher
- Human Kinetics
- Published
- 2019-03-01
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 220-227
- ISSN
- 1526-484X (ISSN-L)
- 1543-2742
- OpenAlex
- W2910331107
- Semantic Scholar
- d06b67315f98630fe5cfd8e7a884dd7bdb16b6a8
- Cited by
- 100
- References
- 79
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 4
- FWCI
- 1.30
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Nottingham Trent University's Institutional Repository (Nottingham Trent Repository) (acceptedVersion)
- Griffith Research Online (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Muscle metabolism and nutrition
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutrition and Health Studies
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Keywords
- youth athletes, female athletes, masters athletes, nutrition education, energy deficiency, relative energy deficiency in sport, protein metabolism, calcium intake, vitamin D, iron intake, dietary supplements, whole foods, age-related physiological changes
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Diet, Female, Humans, Nutritional Requirements, Athletes, Sports Nutritional Physiological Phenomena
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