Dietary Intake of Athletes at the World Masters Athletics Championships as Assessed by Single 24 h Recall

TL;DR

In 43 masters athletes competing at the 2022 outdoor and 2023 indoor World Masters Athletics Championships, single 24 h recalls showed carbohydrate and protein intakes below recommendations for most groups, along with low intakes of several micronutrients. Athletes attending these games would benefit from increased nutritional support.

Key findings

• Carbohydrate intake was below endurance athlete recommendations; endurance athletes averaged ~3.2 g/kg/d, with females ~4.0 g/kg and males ~3.0 g/kg, versus guidelines of 5–7 g/kg/d or 6–10 g/kg/d.
• Protein intake was below masters athlete recommendations in most groups except female power athletes. Power athletes had greater intakes of energy, absolute protein, folate, potassium, vitamin B1, and vitamin D than endurance athletes (p < 0.05).
• Below-recommended micronutrients included vitamins D and E, calcium, and potassium in all groups; vitamin A except female endurance; vitamin C in female endurance; zinc in male and female endurance; vitamin K and fiber in male endurance and power; and folate except female power. The only sex difference was greater carbohydrate relative to body mass in females than males (p < 0.05).
• The proportion meeting recommended intakes differed between groups for all nutrients except vitamin B2 and sodium (p < 0.05); female power athletes generally had the greatest proportion meeting recommendations, with exceptions for fat, vitamin A/K, and vitamin E/calcium/iron.

Methods

• Cross-sectional dietary assessment: 43 athletes (16 females, 27 males; mean age 59.2 ± 10.3 y; height 168 ± 8 cm; body mass 62.3 ± 10.8 kg) from endurance (n = 21), sprint (n = 16), jumping (n = 2), multi-component (n = 3), and throwing (n = 1) events at the outdoor Tampere 2022 or indoor Torun 2023 championships.
• Single 24 h dietary recalls were analyzed with Food Processor Software (ESHA Research, Version 11.1) for energy, macronutrients, and micronutrients; endurance was defined as running ≥800 m or racewalking, and power as sprinting, jumping, throwing, decathlon, heptathlon, or pentathlon.
• Descriptive means/SD were compared with recommended values; two-way ANOVA tested athletic group, sex, and group–sex interactions; chi-squared tests compared proportions meeting recommendations; significance was p ≤ 0.05.

Limitations

• Stated: multi-sport athletes were classified as power athletes even though decathlon/heptathlon/pentathlon include one endurance-type event; 3 multi-sport athletes were included, and 2 of 5 female power athletes were multi-sport.
• Stated: single 24 h recalls may underreport intake by 8–30%; even assuming 30% underreporting, vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamin A in males, zinc in male endurance athletes, and carbohydrates and calcium in endurance athletes would still be below recommendations. Single 24 h recalls were used because of participant burden during competition and may be less accurate than multiple days/recalls; data collected during competition may not represent typical dietary routine.
• Evident from text: small subgroup sizes (e.g., jumping n = 2, throwing n = 1, multi-component n = 3; female power group n = 5) limit precision and generalizability of group/sex comparisons.