College Athletes: A Qualitative Study

Words: 632
Pages: 3

The purpose of this research study was to assess the dietary eating habits and food intakes of female college athletes to compare against todays minimum sports nutrition standards. This studies participants had to be female, over the age of 18 and be a Division I athlete at a university. During the participants first visit anthropometric measurements were obtained such as weight, height, body composition. They also completed one 24 hour food recall where the participants of the study and provided instructions on how to complete their three day food journal (to include two weekdays and one weekend day). Diet Analysis Plus nutrition software was used to assess dietary intake. The participants were also instructed to record the frequency and type of training. Resting metabolic rate were calculated using Cunningham equation using the lean body mass from the DEXA scan. The activity factors used ranged 1.8-2.3 for each subject in the study which was determined by the frequency and type of training using the Nutrition Questionnaire (NR) (Shiver, 2013). …show more content…
Eating habits were evaluated by the NR which also included number of snacks consumed a day, meal and snack frequency, hydration practices, weight management, self-evaluation of perceiving one’s self and breakfast consumption. All were calculated using statistical analysis. Test value for macronutrients are as follows, 5 g/kg for carbohydrates and 1.2 g/kg for protein which were the minimum sports nutrition recommendations. Energy intakes reported from the participants were also calculated and compared with the estimated energy needs (Shiver,