Nutrition education (NE) is one of several strategies aimed at enhancing the dietary intake of athletes. This study investigated NE preferences of New Zealand and Australian athletes competing nationally and internationally. Athletes (n = 124, 22 (18, 27) years, female 54.8%) from 22 sports completed an online survey, with responses analysed using descriptive statistics. Teaching techniques considered ‘extremely effective’ were life examples (47.6% of athletes), hands-on activities (30.6%), and discussions with a facilitator (30.6%). Setting personal nutrition goals was important to most athletes (83.9%), along with two-way feedback with a facilitator (75.0%). General nutrition topics considered ‘essential’ were energy requirements (52.9%), hydration (52.9%), and nutrient deficiencies (43.3%). Performance topics considered ‘essential’ were recovery (58.1%), pre-exercise nutrition (51.6%), nutrition during exercise (50.0%), and energy requirements for training (49.2%). Athletes preferred a ‘combination of in-person group and one-on-one sessions’ (25% of athletes), ‘one-on one sessions’ (19.2%) and ‘in-person group sessions’ (18.3%), with only 13.3% interested in ‘exclusively online delivery’. Sessions of 31–60 min (61.3% of athletes) held monthly (37.5%) and undertaken with athletes of the same sporting calibre (61.3%) were favoured by the participants. The preferred facilitator was a performance dietitian or nutritionist (82.1% of athletes), who had knowledge of the sport (85.5%), experience in sports nutrition (76.6%), and credibility (73.4%). This research provides novel insights into the factors that need to be considered when designing and implementing nutrition education for athletes.

The purposes of this study were 1) to explore the relationship between serum omentin-1 and bone mineral density in older women, and to further understand the effect of adipose tissue on bone mineral density. 2) to assess the relationship between omentin-1 and bone mineral density between low MVPA (moderate-to-vigorous physical activity) group and high MVPA group. 3) to investigate the relationships between omentin-1, bone mineral density and physical activity (PA) levels in older women. METHODS: One hundred older women (age=64±6years; body mass index=24.5±3.2kg/m 2 ) participated in this study. We divided the subjects into overweight/obesity and normal weight group. Bone mineral density was measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. Serum omentin-1 concentration was measured using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Actigraph GT3X-BT accelerometer was used to measure the levels of physical activity. Subjects were divided into two groups based on the mean of the minutes spent in MVPA (180 min/week), defined as low MVPA group (n=44, body mass index=24.8±3.5kg/m 2 ) and high MVPA group (n=56, body mass index=24.3±2.9 kg/m 2 ). RESULTS: Femoral neck (0.819 ± 0.110 vs.0.763 ± 0.106g/cm 2 , p<0.05), trochanter (0.725 ± 0.096 vs.0.665 ± 0.103g/cm 2 , p<0.01), lumbar spine (1.022 ± 0.148 vs.0.871 ± 0.221g/cm 2 , p<0.01) in overweight/obesity group was significantly higher than in normal weight group. Serum omentin-1 was negatively correlated with femoral neck, Ward's BMD, trochanter and lumbar spine (r=-0.254, -0.207, -0.315, -0.205, all p<0.01) in all groups, respectively. The results showed that there was a significant negative correlation between femoral neck, Ward's BMD, trochanter and lumbar spine (r=-0.335, -0.332, -0.380, -0.395, all p<0.05) in high MVPA group. However, no significant correlation was found in low MVPA group (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Omentin-1 might play an important role in bone metabolism in older woman. The relationship between omentin-1 and bone mineral density might be regulated by the level of physical activity.