Nutritional profile of adolescents judo athletes pre and post-competitions.

Abstract

One of the most used strategies is a low intake of calories combined with a more intense training. Given this fact, this study aim to compare the athlete pre-competition diet with the non-competition normal everyday diet. This study also sought to show the dietary and anthropometric profile of these athletes. Regarding the ethical aspects, all participants signed the Termo de Consentimento Livre e Esclarecido. This is a longitudinal and descriptive research, which was compared the before and after of the competition period of the population of athletes through t Student statistical test. Thirty judo practitioners have voluntarily submitted themselves to an anthropometric evaluation two weeks before and two weeks after their competition. Also, the subjects were asked to keep a meal record three days before and three days after the competition period with the objective of compare the records. It was observed that in the pre-competition dietary analysis of the volunteers, only vitamin A and C had reached the level recommended by the DRI (Dietary Reference Intakes). In contrast the post-competition analysis showed that only calcium and fibers did not reach the average suggested. The average weight pre and post competition varies 2.6 kg for male and 4.2kg for female. Even with the large variation in the weight, no significant increase in the body fat percentage was observed in both sexes. Not even a significant increase in other anthropometric indicators evaluated, suggesting that the weight gain of the athletes was of muscle tissue due mainly to the high level of physical activity of the studied athletes. The continued lack of nutrients in the daily diet of athletes suggests the absence of nutritional monitoring in this population, which indeed is very important, knowing that a nutritionally unbalanced diet can affect growth and adolescent cognitive development and reducing their performance in competitions as well.