Sports nutrition

Overview

Sports nutrition refers to the process of choosing appropriate foods and drinks for people who are engaged in athletic activities, including training, workouts, exercise, practices, and competitions. Living things convert food into the energy they need to survive and accomplish various tasks. For athletes, diet may be even more important than for the average person, because athletes often need large amounts of energy to perform well in their chosen activities. Choosing a diet with sports nutrition in mind can help athletes develop more strength and endurance, which may enable them not only to train harder and more effectively, but also to perform better in athletic events.

Proper nutrition is important for all living things. However, athletes must pay special attention to their intake of food and drink. A sports nutrition dietary plan may be heavily customized to meet the needs of the individual athlete. Personal factors such as age, weight, and overall physical condition are critical criteria for choosing the best nutrients. So, too, is the type of activity or exercise the athlete intends to undertake; for example, some activities may require larger athletes with more mass, while others favor smaller athletes with leaner muscles. General guidelines may be helpful for all athletes, but serious athletes, and athletes with special needs, should consult their doctors for more personalized suggestions for proper sports nutrition.

Although many people associate nutrition primarily with foods, the single most important—and, indeed, essential—nutrient for all people, particularly athletes, is water. By weight, the human body is approximately 60 percent water. This water is constantly moving through and leaving the body in various forms. Water may leave through the skin when people sweat. Large amounts of water leave in the form of urine. People may even lose water through their lungs when they breathe. Even though water is essential to the body, the body cannot create its own water. Therefore, people must keep up a regular and steady intake of water throughout the day to replenish lost water and prevent dehydration (a lack of water in the body).

The human need for water is even more important for athletes because exerting physical energy at a sport is likely to increase perspiration. Sweating may become even more intense on a hot day, in a warm gym, or during periods of increased stress. According to the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), potentially harmful dehydration begins when a person loses, and fails to quickly replace, water equivalent to 2 percent of the total body weight. In other words, if an athlete begins a competition at 200 pounds and loses 4 pounds of water due to perspiration, that athlete may begin experiencing the signs of dehydration, which may be harmful not only to athletic performance but to overall health as well.

The other main nutrients common to sports nutrition are mainly used to create energy and build the body. These nutrients are mainly derived from food, not water. Some of the most important include carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Athletes may also use a variety of other nutritional sources, including vitamins and supplements, to help them reach their goals. Finding a healthy balance of these nutrients, customized to one’s personal characteristics and athletic activities, is crucial for allowing an athlete to prosper and stay healthy.

Carbohydrates are a type of nutrient that provides the main source of energy for the human body. Carbohydrates, or carbs, are found in foods such as bread, fruits, cereal, rice, pasta, and many vegetables. Carbohydrates contain starches and sugars that the body’s systems turn into glucose, or energy-giving fuel. The body might use this fuel immediately or store it in the muscles and liver for later use. The combination of ready-to-use energy and stored-up energy is important for athletes who need immediate power as well as lasting power. Some people and athletes seek to reduce or remove carbs from their diet, but this can lead to serious harmful effects. Carbs provide the easiest source of energy for the hardworking body, and if not enough carbs are available, the body begins to burn fat and protein to get energy. This is a longer process and depletes the body’s stored energy. In serious cases, the burning of protein can lead to muscle loss.

Proteins may be used for energy, but their primary use within the body is in building new tissues and muscles. Athletes who seek to increase their muscle mass often customize their diet to be protein rich. The most common sources of dietary protein include meat, fish, eggs, poultry, nuts, beans, and dairy foods such as milk and cheese. The body uses all the protein it needs but does not store excess protein; instead, it burns any excess to create energy, or changes it into fat that may be stored. For these reasons, athletes should be careful to balance protein intake among their other dietary needs.

For many people, fats have a negative connotation, and many believe that a main goal of sports and fitness is to reduce fat. However, fat is a necessary nutrient for the health of athletes and all people—it should simply be ingested thoughtfully and in moderation. The body requires a moderate supply of fat to burn as energy and power various important functions. Excessive fat intake, however, may lead to obesity and a wide array of health problems including heart disease and certain cancers. Fats may come in two main forms. Saturated fats derive from animal products, including meat, eggs, and cheese. Unsaturated fats come from vegetable products, such as vegetable oils.

Most athletes focus on sports nutrition in the form of food. The proper food intake can supply large amounts of useful vitamins, minerals, and other much-needed nutrients to the body. However, many athletes and others look beyond food in their quest to take in sufficient amounts of nutrients. Many use supplements, which are defined by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as dietary nutrients that come in forms other than food; they commonly come as pills, capsules, or powders. Vitamins and minerals, such as those contained in daily multivitamin pills, are the most common supplement. Botanical and herbal supplements are also common. Dietary supplements may also include metabolites, organ tissues and glandulars, and amino acids (USADA, 2022-A).

Many experts support the careful use of supplements to meet the body’s daily requirement of more than forty nutrients. However, experts believe that athletes and others should strongly focus on getting their nutrients from food rather than supplements. Supplements may be used incorrectly or deliver too few or too many nutrients to be optimal for health. Moreover, some supplements may include substances that extend beyond the general understanding of “dietary nutrient.” Such substances may be considered performance-enhancing drugs, and, if discovered in an athlete’s system, may lead to disqualification from an event or other sanctions. Some substances in supplements may be misused, wrongly prescribed, or patently dangerous, leading to severe risks to health and well-being. For these reasons, nutritional experts and athletic organizations closely monitor and study supplements and create guidelines to explain which are, and are not, acceptable for use.

Applications

As people learn more about the vital role of proper nutrition in a healthy lifestyle, the study of nutrition has become a fast-growing and competitive field. Students may choose to pursue training in nutrition, and then enter careers such as food scientist, health coach, dietitian, wellness writer, or health education specialist. Many people who study nutrition shift from academics into the hands-on experience of being a chef. One of the largest fields of nutrition study and practice, however, is in sports nutrition.

Prospective sports nutritionists study not only the fundamentals of proper nutrition, but also the special demands of athletes for certain types of nutrients. Such studies are carefully regulated by colleges and universities as well as organizations such as the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), which offers the CISSN certification for qualified nutritionists.

Sports nutritionists may find work in a wide variety of fields. Some may work with specific athletes and develop highly customized dietary plans to meet each client’s unique needs. Other nutritionists may work with a variety of clients and provide more generalized nutritional assistance and recommendations, both for serious athletes as well as regular people seeking to increase their activity level. In some cases, nutritionists may even find work on the staff of major sports teams, where they can help prepare meals for the teams and give helpful tips to athletes as well.

Scientists with a background in sports nutrition may also find consultant roles with companies that develop dietary supplements and other products aimed at athletes. For example, a sports nutritionist in such a position would likely research different ingredients in a product, gather the latest scientific research about them, and advise companies on which materials to choose or avoid. This work may lead beyond just the company, and sports nutritionists in these capacities may also work with universities or publish their findings in journals.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that dieticians and nutritionists, fields that would include sports nutritionists, earned a median salary of $61,650 as of 2021. The field is expected to grow at a higher-than-usual rate of about 11 percent between 2020 and 2030, making it a potentially attractive one for students with an interest in food, health, and sports (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022). Most nutritionists begin their work experience with a bachelor’s degree and gain hands-on training through residencies or internships in their field.

Issues

Sports nutrition is sometimes controversial and criticized. In its purest form, sports nutrition deals with natural nutrients that can be gained or derived from foods and water. The rise in availability, popularity, and potency of various types of supplements, however, often blurs the distinction between acceptable sports nutrition and “doping,” or using drugs known to enhance athletic performance. Athletes may use such drugs to increase their strength and stamina, give them more endurance during workouts, build muscle more quickly, or enhance their performance during a sporting event.

Regulating bodies such as the USADA have developed extensive programs to test athletes in many competitive sports to ensure that they are not using banned or illegal substances. In their inspections, USADA agents may collect blood, urine, or both from athletes, and send these samples to authorized World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) laboratories to be tested. The WADA searches the samples for traces—even very minute ones—of substances that are included on the Prohibited List. Some substances are prohibited during competitive events, while others are always prohibited.

Athletes who test positive for such substances may be banned from competing in an event. In some cases, post-event tests uncover evidence of prior doping. If that occurs, the results of the event may be changed to reflect this. An athlete may be disqualified after the event due to doping results; if the offending athlete had won the event, the result may be changed to a no-contest.

Experts advise that athletes, particularly those on the professional level, and their nutritionists be extremely careful about their choices. Even some seemingly harmless supplements may contain trace amounts of banned substances that can lead to disqualification and other repercussions. USADA has advised that athletes remain constantly aware of the choices they make, as they are responsible for everything they eat, drink, or take into their bodies in any other way.

Sports nutritionists may also be called on to oversee extreme and potentially dangerous dietary choices made by athletes. For example, some sports, such as martial arts, categorize athletes by weight class. Athletes must strictly conform to these classes; appearing at the official pre-event weigh-in even an ounce too light or too heavy could result in cancellation of the event or severe sanctions by the event organizer. For this reason, many athletes undertake extreme and often harmful programs of weight-cutting that often involve purposely dehydrating themselves to reduce water weight. They may do this by not drinking water, spitting repeatedly, or making themselves sweat profusely.

Dehydration may lead to many dangers for the body. A lack of sufficient water is likely to reduce the amount of blood circulating in the body. If blood circulation wanes, the heart cannot pump enough blood. Because blood transports necessary oxygen and other materials to the body’s cells, the muscles will be deprived of oxygen. If that occurs, the muscles become tired and weak, and the athlete will likely be unable to perform at top potential. Additionally, dehydration in athletes may be harmful because a lack of water in the body may make it harder to flush toxins and unneeded substances from the body during a sporting event.

Although cutting water weight is a common practice, it can be seriously dangerous. Athletes should seek to maintain their water levels by drinking plenty of water-based liquids before, during, and after a sport event (including workouts, training, and competitions). Some athletes only drink water when they feel thirsty, but thirst is not always an accurate measure of the body’s need for water. In fact, a person generally does not feel thirsty until dehydration has already set in. For athletes, that means that the body is already weakened by lack of water before the signal of thirst appears. For that reason, athletes may drink water regularly, without waiting for thirst, to prevent the onset of dehydration. In general, athletes benefit from keeping water handy and drinking regularly whenever physical activity is taking place, roughly every twenty minutes.

About the Author

Mark Dziak is a Pennsylvania-based writer. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, PA, in 2003, and completed a secondary education program there in 2011. He has worked at Northeast Editing, Inc., since 2004. As a content developer, he has researched and written hundreds of educational articles, test items, and other resources on a wide variety of social science topics. In his spare time, Dziak has also published numerous works of nonfiction and fiction.

Bibliography

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Ormond, L. (2019). The Life of a Sports Nutritionist. Careers in Sport. careers-in-sport.co.uk/careers/sports-nutritionist-lindsey-ormond/.

USADA (2022). Anti-doping 101. www.usada.org/athletes/antidoping101/.

USADA (2022). Nutrition Guide: Reach Your Peak Performance Naturally. www.usada.org/athletes/substances/nutrition/.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2022, April 18). Dietitians and Nutritionists. Occupational Outlook Handbook. www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/dietitians-and-nutritionists.htm.