Development of a New Tool for Managing Performance Nutrition: The Athlete Food Choice Questionnaire

Abstract

This study aimed to develop and refine an Athlete Food Choice Questionnaire (AFCQ) to determine the key factors influencing food choice in an international cohort of athletes. A questionnaire that contained 84 items on a 5-point frequency scale was developed for this study. Athletes at the 2017 Universiade, in Taiwan, were invited to participate. Principal component analysis was utilized to identify key factors and to refine the questionnaire. Completed questionnaires were received from 156 athletes from 31 countries and 17 sports. The principal component analysis extracted 36 items organized into nine factors explaining 68.0% of variation. The nine factors were as follows: nutritional attributes of the food, emotional influences, food and health awareness, influence of others, usual eating practices, weight control, food values and beliefs, sensory appeal, and performance. The overall Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin measure was 0.75, the Bartlett test of sphericity was statistically significant, χ2(666) =2,536.50, p < .001, and all of the communalities remained >0.5. Intercorrelations were detected between performance and both nutritional attributes of the food and weight control. The price of food, convenience, and situational influences did not form part of the factorial structure. This research resulted in an AFCQ that includes factors specific to athletic performance and the sporting environment. The AFCQ will enable researchers and sports dietitians to better tailor nutrition education and dietary interventions to suit the individual or team. The next phase will test the accuracy and reliability of the AFCQ both during and outside of competition. The AFCQ is a useful tool to assist with management of performance nutrition for athletes.

Evaluation of Athletes’ Food Choices during Competition with Use of Digital Images

“…There was a trend to mention macronutrients (particularly carbohydrate and protein) having an influence on their food selection. This is supported by literature that suggests performance factors are important in decisions around food choice in this environment [15,24] but may be less relevant once the competition is over. We found that core food content and fibre was greater in meals prior to competition than post, with a number of athletes mentioning that they were choosing vegetables or ‘greens’.…”

“…Alternatively, other factors such as sensory appeal and usual eating practices may take priority over performance, as was suggested in some of the reasons for food selection (Table 4). Interestingly, we found some additional reasons for food selection that differed from those identified in a similar cohort of athletes [24]. These were predominately related to physiological considerations, such as hunger, satiety and gut comfort.…”

“…This would also help caterers to plan the menu and avoid excessive waste, which is increasingly considered a cost and sustainability issue at these major events [36]. It would also be interesting to run this study alongside determinants of food choice [24] and in particular focus on athletes who are making weight or in weight-focused sports where choices from the menu may be more difficult due to restricted offerings.…”

Key Factors Influencing the Food Choices of Athletes at two Distinct Major International Competitions

“…Factors influencing the food choice of athletes were collected using the AFCQ [10], which has undergone initial validation testing for internal reliability, face and content validity. An additional 11 items based on the existing literature and relevant to this study were included as stand-alone factors [5][6][7][8][9].…”

“…These studies have used a range of methods to report on food choice including self-developed questionnaires, focus groups and interviews. More recently, a tool has been developed and validated to measure the ranking of determinants of food choice in athletes (Athlete Food Choice Questionnaire (AFCQ) [10]). Factors included in the survey are the nutritional attributes of the food, emotional influences, food and health awareness, the influence of others, usual eating practices, weight control, food values and beliefs, sensory appeal and performance.…”