Abstract:
Nutrient intake is a significant factor affecting the performance of athletes.
In most of the weight-category sports, athletes tend to fluctuate their body
weight by altering their diets to achieve competition goals. The aim of this
study was to determine the differences between national level athletes
engaged in leanness and non-leanness sports with respect to macronutrient
intake. This research was a cross-sectional survey and stratified random
sampling method was used to select the sample which included 265
national level athletes representing 10 different sports (134 from leanness
sports, 131 from non-leanness sports). The selected leanness sports were
Karate, Weightlifting, Judo, Wrestling and Boxing. Non-leanness sports
included Baseball, Volleyball, Rugby, Hockey and Football. The 24-hour
dietary recall method was used to gather information about daily food
intake of participants. Diet records were converted to daily nutrient intake
values based on food composition tables. Mann Whitney U test was carried
out to determine the differences in macronutrient intakes of athletes
engaged in leanness and non-leanness sports. According to the results, the
majority of athletes reached the acceptable macronutrient distribution
ranges (AMDR) for carbohydrates (84%), proteins (96%) and fat (80%).
Nevertheless, daily energy, carbohydrate, protein and fat intake values of
athletes engaged in leanness sports were lower (p<0.05) than those of
athletes engaged in non-leanness sports. The study identified some
differences in nutrient intake among Sri Lankan national level athletes
engaged in leanness and non-leanness sports and suggests a need for
developing strategies in counseling and teaching of athletes to improve their
nutrient intake.
