Key Nutritional Considerations for Youth Winter Sports Athletes to Optimize Growth, Maturation and Sporting Development

TL;DR

This narrative mini-review argues that youth winter sport athletes should not simply follow adult sport nutrition guidelines, because growth and maturation impose distinct nutritional requirements. It concludes that no evidence-based guidelines exist for this population and that energy availability, vitamin D, iron, hydration, supplement risk, and education are key priorities pending further research.

Key findings

• No youth winter sport-specific nutrition guidelines exist; adult guidelines are inappropriate because growth and maturation alter requirements. A varied, balanced diet ensuring sufficient energy availability is the cornerstone, with ≥45 kcal/kg FFM/day likely the minimum for youth athletes, while chronic low energy availability (<30 kcal/kg FFM/day for adults) risks RED-S, impaired growth, bone accrual, and reproductive/immune function.
• Energy requirements vary widely: youth speed-skaters had mean total energy expenditure of 4037 ± 693 kcal/day (~53 kcal/kg/day), with almost 3000 kcal difference between athletes; Lausanne 2020 Youth Winter Olympic conditions ranged from −10 to 14°C and 400 to 2800 m altitude. The authors note that expert macronutrient recommendations for adolescent athletes (e.g., 3000 kcal) could underestimate actual expenditure (e.g., 4000 kcal/day).
• Micronutrient concerns include calcium, vitamin D, and iron: ~26% of bone mineral content accrues during peak bone mineral content accrual velocity (~12.5 years in girls, ~14 years in boys), ~95% of adult bone mineral content is achieved by end of adolescence, and skeletal calcium accretion is ~300 mg/day. Vitamin D deficiency is defined as serum 25(OH)D <30 nmol/L, and iron deficiency is highly prevalent in adolescent athletes (up to 50% in females).
• Hydration and supplements require individualization: ice hockey sweat rates of ~1.8 L/h have been reported, while dietary supplement use is prevalent among youth athletes but often unnecessary and carries health and anti-doping risks. Education of athletes, parents, and coaches is emphasized.

Methods

• Narrative mini-review using literature searched in Scholar, PubMed, Web-of-Science, and Scopus from inception to December 2020 with keywords including nutrition, energy expenditure, athletes, youth, winter, and sport.
• The paper synthesizes limited available literature and provides practical approaches in Table 1 covering energy, vitamin D, iron, and hydration; it reports no original data collection or primary analysis.

Limitations

• Stated: there is a paucity of research on youth winter sport athletes, making evidence-based guidelines impossible; no data are available on macronutrient requirements in youth athletes, and no published doubly labeled water data exist across maturation stages in youth winter sport athletes. Further research is urgently required.
• Evident: as a narrative mini-review without systematic search or quality appraisal, recommendations rely on extrapolation from adult and other athletic populations rather than direct evidence from youth winter sport athletes.