Little is known regarding the dietary intake of non-elite athletes involved in multisport endurance events. The primary objective of this observational study was to characterize the dietary intake of non-elite athletes participating in winter triathlon (snowshoeing, skating, and cross-country skiing), winter pentathlon (winter triathlon sports + cycling and running), Ironman (IM: swimming, cycling, running), and half-distance Ironman (IM 70.3) in relation with current sports nutrition recommendations. A total of 116 non-elite athletes (32 women and 84 men) who had participated in one of those events in 2014 were included in the analyses. Usual dietary intake was assessed using a validated online food frequency questionnaire. Participants (22-66 years old) trained 14.8 ± 5.3 h/week, on average (±SD). Only 45.7% [95% confidence interval, 36.4%-55.2%] of all athletes reported consuming the recommended intake for carbohydrates, with the highest proportion (66.7%) seen in IM athletes. On the other hand, 87.1% [79.6%-92.6%] of all athletes reported consuming at least 1.2 g protein·kg(-1)·day(-1), while 66.4% [57.0%-74.9%] reported consuming more than 1.6 g protein·kg(-1)·day(-1). The proportion of athletes consuming the recommended amount of protein was highest (84.6%) among IM athletes. There was no difference in the proportion of athletes achieving the recommended carbohydrate and protein intakes between men and women. These findings suggest that many non-elite multisport endurance athletes do not meet the current recommendations for carbohydrates, emphasizing the need for targeted nutritional education. Further research is needed to examine how underreporting of food intake may have affected these estimates.

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Abstract:The prevalence of concerns about food and body weight among non-elite multisport endurance athletes is unknown. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of symptoms and concerns related to disordered eating and their association with performance among 162 non-elite athletes involved in multisport endurance summer and winter events. Self-reported symptoms and concerns related to disordered eating were assessed using the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26) questionnaire. The mean EAT-26 score (± SEM) was 6.5 ± 0.5 and only 9 athletes (5.6%) scored 20 arbitrary units or above. In multivariate regression stepwise analyses, the EAT-26 score (β = 0.145, P = 0.0003) significantly predicted percent ranking. These findings suggest that the prevalence of self-reported symptoms of disordered eating is low among non-elite multisport endurance athletes. However, greater concerns regarding food intake and body weight may be associated with poorer performance even among non-elite athletes with normal BMI values and at the lower end of the EAT-26 score.

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