Exploring Sports Nutrition Knowledge in Elite Gaelic Footballers

Abstract

Nutrition intake plays a crucial role in improving athletic performance, enhancing adaptations to training, and augmenting recovery from exercise. However, research has reported that Gaelic footballers consistently fail to meet energy and carbohydrate recommendations. Sports nutrition knowledge (SNK) can influence the dietary intake of athletes, and therefore has the potential to have a significant impact on athletic performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the current level of SNK in elite Gaelic footballers (n = 100). An online version of the Nutrition for Sport Knowledge Questionnaire (NSKQ) was used to assess sports SNK. The overall mean SNK scores for Gaelic footballers and practitioners were 47.6 ± 12.3% and 78.1 ± 8.3%, respectively. There were no differences in knowledge between age groups, education level or divisional status. The top three sources of nutrition information identified by participants were team dietitian/nutritionists (84.0%), athletic trainers/strength and conditioning coaches (73%), and social media (37%). The results show that there is a major gap in the SNK of Gaelic footballers, while practitioners demonstrated a promising SNK, that could support Gaelic footballers. There is a need for development of interventions and knowledge transfer partnerships, including more effective methods of educating Gaelic footballers and translating sports nutrition principles to players. Developing appropriate nutritional education strategies using online resources and mobile applications could help to improve nutritional knowledge and practice of Gaelic footballers.

Sports Nutrition and Food Knowledge among Malaysian University Athletes

“…Previous studies found significant differences in knowledge scores based on sex [ 5 , 8 , 26 ], BMI classification [ 26 ], and sports category [ 26 ], which we did not observe in this study. While the general principle of sports nutrition is universal for all athletes worldwide, different studies used different sets of questions and assessed different knowledge domains.…”

“…Nutritional knowledge is a modifiable factor influencing dietary behaviours. Athletes’ understanding of sports nutrition can thus influence their food choices, which in turn can affect their overall athletic performance [ 5 , 6 ]. Hence, athletes should obtain appropriate nutritional information from a credible and certified source, as this will shape their understanding of nutrition [ 7 , 8 ].…”

Protein Supplement Perceptions, Use, and Associated Performance in Young Lebanese Resistance-Training Athletes

“…erefore, the measurement tool we used in this study questionnaire included all the subsections recommended by a recent systematic review [38]. Studies that compared nutrition subsections similar to ours found that scores were better in the sports nutrition knowledge compared to the general nutrition knowledge section [39,40].…”

Factors influencing performance and injury risk in elite female Gaelic team sport players and future research directions: a narrative review

“…Research has consistently shown sub-optimal dietary practices amongst elite and sub-elite male Gaelic team sport athletes, most notably failure to meet both energy and carbohydrate requirements. Gaelic football players dietary intake has been identified as inadequate to meet recommendations, with average energy deficits of 12.3% per day [95], carbohydrate intakes of 3.4-3.7 g kg day −1 [95][96][97] lower than minimum recommendations of 5 g kg day −1 . It remains to be established if similar dietary intakes are adopted by female Gaelic team sport athletes, however similar findings have been reported with other female field-based team sport athletes [98][99][100].…”

“…Despite a current lack of dietary investigation within the population, other female team sport athletes with poor nutritional knowledge have been shown have insufficient energy and carbohydrate intake [98,99]. Similarly, this relationship between poor nutritional knowledge and sub-optimal dietary intake has been seen in male Gaelic football players [95,97]. As such it would be beneficial to measure dietary intake and assess nutritional knowledge simultaneously in elite female Gaelic team sport athletes to see if knowledge translates to practice.…”