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The research highlights the challenges para-athletes face in sports nutrition
Researchers from Osaka Metropolitan University, Professor Hisayo Yokoyama of the Research Center for Urban Health and Sports, as well as specially appointed research fellow Miwako Deguchi and specially appointed Professor Nobuko Hongu of the Graduate School of Human Life and Ecology, interviewed para-athletes with lower limb disabilities about diet and nutrition. The survey included six active para-athletes who competed at international level, as well as a physically capable para-sports coach, to clarify the challenges para-athletes face in sports nutrition. While athletes without disabilities tend to focus more on consuming carbohydrates, proteins and fats as energy sources...
The research highlights the challenges para-athletes face in sports nutrition
Researchers from Osaka Metropolitan University, Professor Hisayo Yokoyama of the Research Center for Urban Health and Sports, as well as specially appointed research fellow Miwako Deguchi and specially appointed Professor Nobuko Hongu of the Graduate School of Human Life and Ecology, interviewed para-athletes with lower limb disabilities about diet and nutrition. The survey included six active para-athletes who competed at international level, as well as a physically capable para-sports coach, to clarify the challenges para-athletes face in sports nutrition.
While athletes without disabilities tend to focus on consuming carbohydrates, proteins and fats as energy sources, almost all subjects surveyed stated that a balanced diet rich in vegetables was ideal for improving athletic performance. This is thought to be due to a desire to avoid weight gain that limits wheelchair use in daily life and to prevent lifestyle-related illnesses that lead to reluctance to eat, rather than focusing on diets that provide nutritional benefits to improve athletic performance.
The research team found that diets that paraathletes considered ideal were not necessarily optimal for improving athletic performance, and even when they understood what a truly optimal diet was, various characteristics of their disability presented barriers to dietary change.
The results of this research will help bridge the perception gap between para-athletes and support staff, including nutritionists and trainers, and facilitate collaboration between them. It is important for nutritionists to fully understand the concerns and difficulties of para-athletes in order to build good partnerships with them and support them in sports nutrition.”
Professor Hisayo Yokoyama, Urban Health and Sports Research Center
Source:
Reference:
Yokoyama, H., et al. (2022) The Role of Dieters and Nutritionists for Paraathletes: A Pilot Study Based on Interviews. Nutrients. doi.org/10.3390/nu14183720.
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