الفهرس 
Nutrition and athleticsOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Appropriate nutrition is critical during these growing years to maintain health,
growth, and the development of athletic potential. Optimum diet and exercise in childhood
will promote an enjoyable, health-promoting, and rewarding experience with athletic
participation throughout life. Also an appropriate diet will help to develop sound dietary
habits that follow through to adulthood and, together with physical activity, reduce the risk
for many lifestyle diseases.
Young athletes differ from adults and their nonathletic peers in important
physiological, metabolic, and biomechanical aspects .These differences have implications
for their nutritional needs.
This research aimed to study the dietary intake, body composition of athletic children
in Alexandria and to determine if there was a relationship between dietary intake, sport and
body composition.
The present study was carried out in two sporting clubs and three youth centers in
Alexandria. The total number of subjects participating in this study was 200 athletic
children (137 boys and 63 girls) selected proportionally to the place of sport practicing
(club or youth centers), type of sport (endurance, strength and weight class, or team
sports), and sex.
Data of this study were collected through interviewing each athletic child
individually together with his/ her parent (child/ parent interview) specifically mothers
using a predesigned questionnaire to obtain data about the following:
1. Personal data and sociodemographic characteristics: age, sex, pocket money in
Egyptian pound, family size, number of house rooms; so that crowding index
was calculated, parents’ education and occupation.
2. Athletic data: type of sport, years of practicing, duration of training (hours per
day and days per week).
3. Nutritional practices and eating habits (daily and that related to athletic activity).
4. Dietary intake.
Anthropometric measurements were obtained for every athletic child including:
weight, height, BMI, MUAC, TSF, AMA, and body composition. All these were done in
the Integrated Health Clinic of The High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University.
Results can be summarized as follows:
Boys were about 68.5% of the sample and the remaining (31.5%) were girls. The
mean age of the studied sample was 9.6 1.5 years; with minimum of 6 years and
maximum of 12.6 years. Nearly half of the sample was of high social level (46.5%), 30%
was of high middle level and 23.5% was of low middle social class. Athletic children
engaged in endurance sports (running and swimming) were 43.5% of the sample, more
than one quarter (27.5%) was engaged in strength and weight class sports (gymnastics and
martial arts as karate, judo, taikondo and kongfu) and 29% was engaged in team sports
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Summary
(football, volleyball, basketball, and handball). The mean years of practicing sport was
3.5 1.5 years and the mean duration of training was 7.6 5.4 hours/ week.
Nearly three quarters of the studied sample (71.5%) had three meals/ day. Lunch was
the main meal for 95.4% out of 194 athletic children who reported regular number of
meals. About 70.5 % of the studied sample skipped meals; 44.7% of them used to skip
mainly breakfast while 56.7% skipped dinner. More than three quarters (78%) of the
sample took meals outside home and that was observed commonly in high social level
children. As regards intake of snacks, almost the majority of the sample (90.5%) had
snacks in between meals and mainly snacking was on fruits (64.1%), sweets and candies
(55.8%), and canned juices (34.3%).
More than three quarters of the studied sample (86%) reported intake of a meal
before athletic activity. Timing of pre-athletic activity meal was less than two hours before
athletic activity in about two thirds of the studied sample for those taking it (65.1%).
Almost the majority of the studied sample (92%) reported intake of a meal after athletic
activity and all of them took it within two hours after athletic activity, while 8% did not
take.
Regarding fluid intake; half of the athletic children in the studied sample drank fluids
during the athletic activity; about 54% of those had good score for that practice were
playing in youth centers, while 85% of those who had bad score were playing in clubs.
While for fluid intake after athletic activity; about 68% always took fluids after athletic
activity and the remaining (32%) sometimes took or did not drink at all.
More than three quarters of the studied sample (80.5%) did not take nutritional
supplements. None of the studied sample took salt tablets, sports and energy drinks or
pharmacologic aids.
Median total energy intake of the studied sample was1414.9 kcal/day for boys
and1400.2 kcal/day for girls that was equal to 81.2% and 85.3% relatively to RDA for boys
and girls, respectively. Median total protein intake was 2.4 g/kg body weight and 2.1g/kg
body weight that was equivalent to 16.2% and 15.9% of total energy intake per day for
both age groups, respectively regardless of sex. A reversed animal to plant protein ratio
was observed among athletic children of the studied sample. Also data revealed high
median percent energy from fat (34.8% and 32.2%) for both age groups regardless of sex.
Median total carbohydrate intake was 7.3 g/kg body weight and 6.5 g/kg body weight
(184.6 g/day and 240.7 g/day) for both age groups regardless of sex which was equivalent
to 49.4% and 52% of total caloric intake per day for both age groups, respectively. Fiber
adequacy was (15.9% and 16.9%) that is so far lower than the RDA for both age groups of
the study sample respectively regardless of sex.
This study showed lower than RDA adequacies of all vitamins and minerals except
for vitamin C and riboflavin for both age groups of the study sample. Also a higher than
RDA adequacies was observed for sodium in the two age groups, phosphorus only for the
younger age group, iron only for the older age group, and finally zinc for both age groups.
Median iron intake did not differ significantly between boys and girls for the younger age
group (8.9 and 8.1 mg/day, respectively) but it was higher in boys than girls for the older
age group (10.8 and 9.4 mg/day, respectively). Also, median zinc intake did not differ
significantly between boys and girls for the younger age group (8.7 and 7.6 mg/day,
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Summary
respectively) but it was higher in boys than girls for the older age group (9.7 and 8.6
mg/day, respectively). The high intake of both iron and zinc can be explained by high
protein intake (especially animal protein which was about two thirds of the total daily
protein intake) by the studied sample.
About 70% of the athletic children of the studied sample recorded normal BMI,
while overweight and obese constituted 22.5% and 5 %, respectively. Only five athletic
children were underweight. Near all the studied sample (99.5%) had normal or above
height for age. Boys had lower fat mass and percent body fat than girls in both age groups
of the studied sample; there were no or little sex differences in body composition of
athletic children. Also, there was no significant difference between the three groups of
sports for means of all components of body composition and basal metabolic rate in both
age groups of the study sample. Results also showed that age was the only significant
factor detected to affect body composition components and neither type of sport nor energy
adequacy did.
from this study we concluded that athletic children are lacking the basic nutritional
information plus sound nutritional practices related to sport activity. In addition, age was
the single factor affecting body composition and neither sport nor energy adequacy did so
in those young pre-pubertal athletic children, therefore this study recommends the
following:
To stress on the importance of nutritional education to provide all needed
nutrients in optimal amounts and to correct food choices and habits especially
those related to sport activity (pre and post athletic activity meals and fluid intake)
regardless sport type.
Provide continuous assessment for body size (weight and height), to evaluate
child’s growth and emphasize the importance of adequate energy intake instead of
overwhelming unrealistic weight and body composition goals.