Nutritional aspects of women strength athletes

Abstract

Strength training elicits sports related and health benefits for both men and women. Although sexual dimorphism is observed in exercise metabolism, there is little information outlining the specific nutritional needs of women strength athletes. Many women athletes restrict energy intake, specifically fat consumption, in order to modify body composition, but this nutritional practice is often counterproductive. Compared to men, women appear to be less reliant on glycogen during exercise and less responsive to carbohydrate mediated glycogen synthesis during recovery. Female strength athletes may require more protein than their sedentary and endurance training counterparts to attain positive nitrogen balance and promote protein synthesis. Therefore, women strength athletes should put less emphasis on a very high carbohydrate intake and more emphasis on quality protein and fat consumption in the context of energy balance to enhance adaptations to training and improve general health. Attention to timing of nutrient ingestion, macronutrient quality, and dietary supplementation (for example, creatine) are briefly discussed as important components of a nutritionally adequate and effective strength training diet for women. Strength training for healthy women is endorsed by the American College of Sports Medicine 1 and has many beneficial effects on health 2 3 while also enhancing performance in other activities. 4 Women engaging in strength training range from young high school athletes, 5 to post-menopausal women, 2 to those competing in strength training sports (for example, weight lifting, power lifting, and bodybuilding). Nutrition has a major influence on the magnitude of adaptation to training. Proper food intake and sound nutritional strategies will result in strength and muscular endurance improvements, and will facilitate athletic performance.6 Nutritional needs are influenced by the metabolism of energy providing nutrients (that is, mobilisation, utilisation, and storage of energy substrates) at rest and during exercise. Nutritional recommendations for men and women strength athletes share many common elements and the reader is referred to other reports that discuss these in more detail.7 8 The main purpose of this review is to point out subtle, but potentially important, gender differences in metabolism and to suggest related nutritional approaches for women engaged in strength training whose goals are muscular hypertrophy, power, and strength. WOMEN AND STRENGTH TRAININGThe general benefits of strength training for both men and women include an increase in bone mass and lean mass, 9 improved body composition (due to decreased fat mass), cardiovascular fitness, strength, and an enhanced sense of well being.3 10-12 Alterations in muscle strength and size following resistance training in women are similar to those in men, [13][14][15][16] given that the exercise stimulus is the same.17 However, the relative increases in strength upon initiation of training may be greater in women partially because of lower base...

Sex Differences in Food Preferences of Hadza Hunter-Gatherers

“…There is evidence that in athletes, males derive a greater portion of energy (during exercise) from carbohydrates and protein, while females derive more from fat (Bloomer and Fisher-Wellman, 2008;Chevalier, Marliss, Morais, Lamarche, and Gougeon 2005;Tarnopolsky, MacDougall, Atkinson, Tarnopolsky, and Sutton 1990;Tarnopolsky, 2008;Volek, Forsythe, and Kraemer, 2006). Another possible dietary sex difference may simply be that females require regular calories to maintain body fat (and thereby fecundity).…”

Nutrition guidelines for strength sports: Sprinting, weightlifting, throwing events, and bodybuilding

“…Given that resistance training is merely one component of the overall training programme of sprints and throwing event athletes, and that the skeletal muscle damage that accompanies resistance training (Gibala et al, 2000) impairs muscle glycogen resynthesis (Zehnder, Muelli, Buchli, Kuehne, & Boutellier, 2004), it would seem pertinent to Giada et al (1996) International (n encourage strength-trained athletes to maintain a moderate carbohydrate intake. Guidelines proposing an intake within the range of 6 g Á kg -1 body mass for male strength athletes (Lambert & Flynn, 2002) and possibly less for females (Volek, Forsythe, & Kraemer, 2006) have been advocated. Dietary survey literature relating to strength athletes suggests lifters and throwers typically report carbohydrate intakes of 3-5 g Á kg 71 body mass, while bodybuilders maintain daily intakes equivalent to 4-7 g Á kg 71 body mass, independent of gender (Tables I and II).…”

Physiological and Nutritional Aspects of Post-Exercise Recovery

“…[67] Also, proteinrich animal foods are an important source of dietary iron, the latter helping to limit the risk of anaemia, a problem of particular concern for female athletes. [68] Volek et al, [69] also consider that female athletes should be aware that animal protein sources provide vitamin B 12 and D, thiamin, riboflavin, calcium, phosphorus, iron and zinc. [70] )…”

“…In female athletes, the maintenance of energy balance, is a topic in need of particular attention, because of the frequently observed concerns with physical appearance and the social pressures pushing them to maintain a low percentage of fat mass. [58,69,70,79] A positive energy balance is indeed necessary to ensure optimal metabolic recovery and to promote the muscular regeneration processes in order to withstand the training loads. [7] However, the literature reports the daily caloric intake as often insufficient in high-level female athletes, particularly those involved in sports in which a thin silhouette confers an advantage.…”

“…Moreover, such a large shift of caloric sources toward carbohydrates is likely to lead to deficiencies in some essential proteins and lipids, and compromises nitrogen balance necessary for maintaining normal sexual steroid hormone levels. [84] In this context, several authors [60,69] recommend a lipid intake of 30% of daily energy needs for female athletes.…”