Dietary Practices and Anthropometric Profile of Professional Male Surfers

Abstract

Aims: To identify dietary practices together with anthropometric variables of a group of professional surfers. Subjects: Participants of a National Surf Championship in Brazil. Evaluations: (1) Anthropometric measures, indexes and calculations (body mass, height, arm span, body circumferences and nine skinfold thicknesses, arm spam/height ratio, waist-to-hip-ratio, conicity index and % body fat); (2) One 24h food-recall, describing all the food and drinks consumed at the previous day, and analyzed for energy, macro-nutrients, some micro-nutrients and food groups. The values were compared with some references and position statements and with the Brazilian Food Guide; (3) The basal and daily energy expenditure was estimated from specific equations; the energy intake was estimated from the information on diet and the energy balance was estimated from the difference between these values. Main results: The intake of carbohydrate is below the position statements (2.5-9.7g/kg and 6-10g/kg body weight, respectively). Possibly the intake of supplements such as maltodextrin fulfilled the requirements (30.3% of the athletes referred the intake of this supplement); The intake of BCAA (Branched-Chain Amino Acids) showed to be high (24.2% of the athletes); The low intake of vegetables possibly contributes to the low intake of micronutrients (0.0-6.0 servings, against the recommendation of 4-5 servings); The high intake of fried food (added lipid = 0.0-5.9 servings, against the recommendation of 1.0-2.0 servings) overlapped healthy habits such as beans and nuts consumption (0.0-13.6 servings against the recommendation of 1.0 serving); The percentage of body fat seems to be similar to swimmers (around 12% of body weight). As a conclusion, the dietary practices of surfers in the day prior a competition need to be improved, especially with respect to carbohydrates and lipids. The balance between energy intake and energy expenditure needs to be investigated more deeply. Studies investigating the role of certain amino acids supplement, such as BCAA, in surf practice could allow a better interpretation of this practice.