engleski

The general nutrition knowledge of professional athletes

The nutrition of athletes is one of the most important factors of training and success in sports competitions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the nutrition knowledge among professional athletes and their non-athletes’ peers. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 211 participants (110 professional athletes and 101 non-athletes) who undergone preventive examination by the specialist of occupational and sports medicine in Osijek, Eastern Croatia, during September 2017. A specially designed anonymous questionnaire served as a research tool. The median age of all study participants was 20.0 years (interquartile range 19.0-24.0 years) ; there were 74.4% males and 25.6% females. The overall proportion of correct answers to nutrition questions among all study participants was 27.6% (interquartile range 20.7%-41.4%). There were no statistically significant differences in proportion of correct answers between professional athletes and non-athletes as well as between males and females (p=0.584 and p=0.904, respectively). Furthermore, study did not find differences in proportion of correct answers regarding the educational level, self-perceived socioeconomic status and body mass index category of study participants (p=0.547, p=0.491 and p=0.459, respectively). The study showed highly unsatisfactory level of nutrition knowledge among both groups of study participants. Additional education about nutrition is needed.

nutrition ; knowledge ; athletes ; sports ; education ; Croatia

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