The Observation And Research Of Dietary And Nutritional Literacy Among Elite Swimmers

Objective:By understanding the current nutritional literacy of elite swimmers in China, comparatively analyzing their dietary structure, body composition, dietary habits, nutritional literacy and biochemistry targets of training phase and competition season and analyzing the characteristics of different phases, we conducted observations and researches on their dietary nutrition so that we could find the problems and weaknesses in it. And we could further provide scientific evidences and technical guidance for the swimmers’dietary supply during their physical training, pre-game intensive training and at competition and give reasonable suggestions to improve the quality of dietary supply for the swimmers in the future.Subjects and Methods:Thirteen elite athletes of Chinese swimming Team were investigated by questionnaire and means of body composition, blood biochemical examination and dietary survey during the training(3 training days and 1 day off) and competition season(2 days during FINA Swimming World Cup 2014). These thirteen swimmers’dietary nutrition was investigated by using two different methods during training season, the method of 4-day consecutive weighing method and 24-hour recalls method. All of dates included three meals of a day, snacks, nutritional supplements were recorded in detail and input all the athletes and the public dietary nutrition analysis and management system software developed by National Research Institute of Sports Medicine. According to the results, we compared with the recommended standard of elite athletes.Results:The nutrition education comprehensive questionnaire showed that total score on the fourth level was 65.6%. Six kinds of food included cereal-grain products, meats, poultry, aquatic product, animal and vegetable oil, fruits among thirteen were underestimated by the 24-hour recalls method, while only one kind of food overestimated, milk products. The results showed the insufficiency of total energy, the imbalance of three meals, the insufficient intake of carbohydrate, the excessive intake of protein and fat, as well as the deficiency of certain vitamins(RAE, VB1,VB2,VC) and minerals (Ca, K)between training and competition seasons by using weighing methods. The intake of RAE (P=0.021) and Female fat (P=0.003) in completion season is significantly higher than training days, while the intake of carbohydrate(P=0.002),VB1(P=0.005)and Fe(P=0.041) are lower. On the side of foods intake, cereal-grain products (P=0.003), beans products (P=0.023) and milk products (P=0.016) in completion season are significantly lower than training days, while potatoes (P=0.001) and oils (P=0.006) is lower.Conclusions:The 24-hour recalls is not described the athletes’dairy intake quite well compared with weighing methods. The results showed that the athletes were not able to intake according to the different nutritional needs. The recommendation suggested focusing on:both athletes and coach should be emphasized on the scientific diet intake and making the athletes’dietary allowance scientific, for the purpose of improving athletes’dietary and nutritional literacy as well as daily management of dining hall.