A Comparison of Nutritional Knowledge and Food Habits of Collegiate and Non-Collegiate Athletes

Abstract

Nutrition is an important component of any physical fitness program. The main dietary goal for active individuals is to obtain adequate nutrition to optimize health fitness and to increase sports performance. The purpose of this study was to compare nutritional knowledge and food habits in collegiate s and non-collegiate athletes. The target population of this study was all male and female collegiate and non-collegiate athletes in Rasht city of Iran. After translate of the standard nutrition knowledge and attitudes survey questionnaire Zawila et al., and adjust of some questions, questionnaire was evaluated by Professors of faculty of physical education and sport sciences. The reliability guided Cronbach Alpha value of .81. A researcher-built questionnaire which was developed to measure subject′s nutrition knowledge and habits, distributed to 130 collegiate and non-collegiate athletes males and 120 Collegiate and non-collegiate athletes females randomly. The questionnaire contained 15 nutrition knowledge questions and 25 nutrition habits questions. The collected data was analyzed by t-test, one-way ANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficient (p < .05). The correct response rate for the sport nutrition and general nutrition score were in collegiate athletes male (57.15; 52.5%) and athletes female (58.14; 54.85%); non-collegiate athlete′s males (41.55; 39.86%) and athletes female (42.11; 40.66 %) respectively. Also, mean nutrition scores in collegiate athlete′s males and females were significantly higher than non-collegiate athletes male and females. Furthermore, there were significant differences in the total mean score questionnaire between collegiate and non-collegiate athletes (p < .05). Based on the result of our study the knowledge of Iranian non-collegiate athletes were lower than collegiate athletes. For this reason, nutrition knowledge and attitudes of Iranian non-collegiate athletes need to improve. So, these suggest that nutrition lectures′ courses are one of the solutions to increase knowledge about nutrition.

Development and Implementation of a Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire for Ultraendurance Athletes

“…Although, knowledge was comparable between male and female athletes competing at the same level (Arazi and Hosseini, 2012), suggesting that performance level may influence nutrition knowledge. The gender differences in nutrition knowledge between this study and pervious research may reflect confounding variables such as general education level, rather than gender 'per se'.…”

“…In contrast, Jessri et al (2010) reported significantly higher nutrition knowledge for female athletes compared to male athletes. Whereas, Arazi and Hosseini (2012) reported significantly higher nutrition knowledge for male collegiate athletes compared to their non-collegiate female counterparts.…”

A Systematic Review of Athletes’ and Coaches’ Nutrition Knowledge and Reflections on the Quality of Current Nutrition Knowledge Measures

“…A 2014 review on the relationship between nutrition knowledge and dietary intake in adults also suggested that while the relationship between nutrition knowledge and dietary behavior appears to be moderate at best, results may be affected by the quality of measures used to assess knowledge [ 6 ]. Several studies assessing nutrition knowledge in athletes, not included in either of the aforementioned reviews, have been published in recent years [ 12 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ].…”

Nutritional Knowledge and Behavior of Professional Athletes in Khorramabad

“…The standard nutritional knowledge inventory developed by Zawila et al [1] was used for the study. Arazi and Hosseini [8] reported its reliability at 0.81 by using Cronbach's alpha. Nutritional behavior was tested by a questionnaire developed by Karegarfard et al [9], of which reliability was estimated at 0.86 using Cronbach's alpha.…”

“…Finally, authors concluded that athletes did not have enough nutritional knowledge [3]. By evaluating nutritional knowledge of 250 collegiate and non-collegiate (130 male, 120 female) athletes, Arazi and Hosseini [8] found that nutritional knowledge of non-collegiate athletes is lower than collegiate athletes.…”