Nutritional knowledge, eating habits, factors affecting muscle damage, and antioxidant enzyme levels of Korean wrestlers

Abstract

[Purpose] The aim in this study was to investigate the diet and nutritional knowledge of elite Korean wrestlers and verify the differences in their exercise performance , muscle damage indicators, and antioxidant enzyme levels according to wrestler level.[Methods] A 7-day dietary and nutrition knowledge survey was administered to 30 adult male elite wrestlers (national team: n=11; professional team: n=19). The Wingate test was conducted for 60 seconds to analyze muscle damage indicators and antioxidant levels. Blood and blood lactate concentration analyses were performed four times; the statistical significance level of all data was <i>p</i><0.05.[Results] Significant differences were found in general nutrition knowledge questionnaire (GNKQ) scores (<i>p</i>=0.043), diet (<i>p</i>=0.001), anaerobic performance (<i>p</i>=0.001), muscle damage indicators (<i>p</i>=0.026), antioxidant levels, and blood lactic acid concentrations (30 min after exercise, <i>p</i>=0.007; 90 min after exercise, <i>p</i>=0.038) between the national and the professional groups.[Conclusion] To the findings confirm the relationship between the differences in diet, nutrition, and motor function for wrestlers of different expertise levels. In a follow-up, a comprehensive study on nutrition knowledge, athlete training , and weight loss is needed that considers a wider scope of subjects and analyzes additional variables.