Eating disorders (EDs) are addressed as one of the expanding mental health problems worldwide. While an ED is a clinical psychiatric diagnosis that can only be established after a psychiatric assessment, it is important to note that “at-risk” refers to people who will exhibit aberrant eating patterns but do not fully meet the requirements for an ED diagnosis. This study was designed to address the ED symptoms (i.e., “at-risk”) in Jordanian athletes and their association with age, sex, body mass index (BMI), and type of sport. A convenient, cross-sectional study was conducted among 249 athlete participants by answering the Eating Attitude Test (EAT-26). The EAT-26 results indicated an ED prevalence of 34% among Jordanian athletes. Within “at-risk” ED athletes, sex, age, and BMI had no significant differences in the rates of EDs. Outdoor sports had the least effect on EDs, while the highest was amongst gymnastics. EDs prevalence is alarming among Jordanian athletes. Gymnastics is a risk factor for increasing EDs. Our results should be taken into consideration by physicians, mental health professionals, sports nutritionists, coaches, and sport medicine specialists. We recommend establishing strategies pertaining to mental health, especially EDs in sports centers, along with screening programs for those who demand additional assessment and supervision.

Athletes competing in Taekwondo (TKD), the weight-category sport, tend to rapidly lose weight to achieve the desired body weight for better competitive results. Little is known about the effect of rapid weight reduction on bone mass density (BMD), especially during childhood and adolescence. The current study aimed to investigate the impact of rapid weight loss on BMD among cadets and juniors TKD athletes. A descriptive case series study design was conducted and collected from 28 males and females aged 12–17 years old, with mean age 14.4 ± 1.7. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) was used for both BMD and body composition assessment, and laboratory tests were also performed for the total calcium (Ca), TSH, free T4 (FT4), and 25-OH-vitamin D. Results showed normal levels of Ca (82.1%), TSH (96.4%), and FT4 (96.4%), whilst 85.7% had vitamin D deficiency. DEXA results showed that within male athletes, juniors had a wider range of BMD than cadets, while within females, results did not vary, with no statistical difference between both males and females. Our results suggested that children and adolescents’ BMD was positively related to TKD sport regardless of the abnormal weight loss strategies used, as evidenced by laboratory results. Children and adolescents should be conscious and practice TKD sport adopting healthy weight loss behaviors.

Aim. Sarcopenia is an age-related syndrome that is characterized by a progressive loss of muscle mass, strength, and function. This study was performed in order to evaluate nutrients intake and physical activity level and to investigate the effect of sarcopenia syndrome on food intake for a group of Jordanian older adults with sarcopenia syndrome in Amman. Methodology. The study sample consisted of 25 nonsarcopenic people and 25 sarcopenic patients aged over 60 years old with a male to female ratio of 1 : 1. A special questionnaire was used to collect demographic data, health data, data about syndrome characteristics, nutritional assessment, and physical activity level. A 24-hour recall was also used to collect food intake data. Body weight, height, and skinfold thicknesses were measured. Results. The mean of the sarcopenic patients’ age was 77.5 ± 6.9 years, and the mean of the weight was significantly lower in sarcopenic patients than the nonsarcopenic people. In this study, all macronutrients and micronutrients from dietary intake information were analyzed. Vitamin intake (water- and fat-soluble), as well as minerals (major and trace), amino acids, and essential fatty acids, was assessed. The mean intake of energy and carbohydrates, fat, and dietary fiber was lower than their recommendations, while the mean intake of protein was within the range of its recommendations in the sarcopenia group. The mean of the intake of omega 3 and omega 6 was below their recommendations. Conclusion. It could be concluded that sarcopenic older patients in Jordan have similar characteristics with patients studied worldwide with regard to age of patients, female to male ratio, and main symptoms. Sarcopenic older patients in Jordan generally have lower weight and BF% than nonsarcopenic adults and have inadequate dietary intake compared to their recommendations and compared to nonsarcopenic older adults. Therefore, the diet of sarcopenic patients needs modification and follow-up. The level of physical activity and daily living activities for sarcopenic older patients is lower than that of nonsarcopenic older adults.

Nutrition plays an important role as a key factor in the performance of athletes and their coaches, so good and proper nutrition is essential for improving athletic performance and physical fitness. The lack of nutritional knowledge of athletes may affect their performance, and the most important of these issues is nutritional knowledge of food and dietary supplements Aim: To assess the nutritional knowledge, attitude, and practice of athletes and their coaches at the Arab Olympic Preparation Center about the dietary supplements, the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Strategy has been used to assess this. Method: A questionnaire-based study was applied to a convenient sample of 111 elite athletes and coaches in the Arab Olympic preparation programs during the period between January and March 2020 from different sports types. The questionnaire contained two-parts (personal information and nutritional supplement knowledge, attitude, and practice questionnaire) to meet the purpose of the study. Results: The total percentage of athletes' knowledge about nutritional supplements is only 46.94 %, indicating that this important group of society does not have sufficient knowledge of nutritional supplements. While the percentage of use of dietary supplements among elite athletes was approximately 41.6%, which is relatively high. Also, our study showed that coaches had a positive impact on the elite athletes due to good coaches' knowledge, 84.2% of elite athletes indicated that they had taken information from their coaches about dietary supplements, and 53.5% of elite athletes indicated that they had participated in nutritional supplement workshops. Conclusion: Based on our study, there was a relatively high prevalence of dietary supplements use among elite athletes and coaches at the Arab Olympic Preparation Program due to a lack of knowledge about dietary supplements.

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Despite the importance of physical activity and training, proper nutrition and good nutrition knowledge plays an important role in enhancing the athletes' performance and health status. Objective: To study the knowledge, attitude, and practice toward sport-nutrition among Jordanian athletes and coaches at Jordanian Olympic Preparation Program for TOKYO2020 Olympic Games. Method: A cross-sectional design was used. 95 participants (85 athletes and 10 coaches) were recruited from 7 Olympic federations (i.e., judo, karate, taekwondo, basketball, football, muay thai, and boxing). The questionnaire consisted of questions related to demographic information, nutritional knowledge, attitude, and practice. Results: Individual federation athletes' practice and attitude were significantly lower than group federation athletes (1.659±0.04, 1.318±0.10, 1.84±0.03, 1.54±0.10). Individual federation athletes had significantly higher knowledge than group federation athletes (1.638±0.035, 1.620±0.037, respectively). Coaches' knowledge, practice, and attitude (1.471±0.06, 1.675±0.10, 1.300±0.21, respectively) were significantly lower than athletes (1.647±0.02, 1.771±0.03, 1.459±0.07). Knowledge and attitude were found to have a significant positive correlation (0.261), whereas knowledge was found to have a positive correlation with practice (0.037) and practice was found to have a positive correlation with attitude (0.069), but these correlations were not significant (P> 0.05). Conclusion: The current study identified some gaps in nutritional knowledge and practice among Jordanian Olympic athletes, implying the need for developing strategies in athlete counseling and teaching to improve their knowledge and practices, which have an impact on performance and health promotion.

Background: Nutrition plays an important role as a key factor in the performance of athletes and their coaches, so good and proper nutrition is essential for improving athletic performance and their physical fitness. The lack of nutritional knowledge of athletes may affect their performance, and the most important of these issues is nutritional knowledge of food and dietary supplements Aim: To assess the nutritional knowledge, attitude, and practice of athletes and their coaches at the Arab Olympic Preparation Center about the dietary supplements, the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Strategy has been used to assess this. Mothed: A questionnaire-based study was applied to a convenient sample of 111 elite athletes and coaches in Arab Olympic preparation program during the period between January and March 2020 from different sport types. The questionnaire contained two-parts (personal information and nutritional supplement knowledge, attitude, and practice questionnaire) to meet the purpose of the study. Results: The total percentage of athletes’ knowledge about nutritional supplements is only 46.94 %, indicating that this important group of society does not have sufficient knowledge of nutritional supplements. While the percentage of use of dietary supplementsamong elite athletes was approximately 41.6%, which is considered to be relatively high. Also, our study showed that coaches had positive impact on the elite athletes due to good coaches' knowledge, 84.2 % of elite athletes indicated that they had taken information from their coaches about dietary supplements, and 53.5 % of elite athletes indicated that they had participated in nutritional supplement workshops. Conclusion: Based in our study, there was a relatively high prevalence of dietary supplements use among elite athletes and coaches at the Arab Olympic Preparation Program due to lack of knowledge about dietary supplements.