Sports nutrition knowledge and perceptions among professional basketball athletes and coaches in Lebanon-a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background Basketball is the most popular sport in Lebanon. Adequate nutrition has been established to be a key component of optimal athletic performance, recovery from exercise and exercise-induced injury and documented to be associated with adequate nutrition knowledge (NK). In Lebanon, nutrition education is not incorporated into the basketball player training program and there is no established position for sports nutritionists in basketball clubs. To our knowledge, the present study is the first to evaluate the NK status of Division I Basketball (D1B) players /coaches in Lebanon. The objectives of this study are to assess the prevalence of inadequate NK; identify the gaps in NK, main sources of nutrition information, perceptions on sports nutrition and independent predictors of inadequate NK among D1B players and coaches in Lebanon. Methods All D1B players (n = 184) and coaches (n = 16) in Lebanon were invited to participate in the study. Study participants were asked to complete a questionnaire that included questions on NK, resources and perceptions. A percentage of ≥60% of NK questions answered correctly was used as indicative of having adequate NK. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the sample characteristics. The T-test and chi square test were used for comparisons of means and proportions, respectively. Logistic regression was used to explore the predictors of inadequate NK in D1B players. Results The sample consisted of 178 D1B players (nM = 126; nF = 52) and 11 male coaches, resulting in survey response rates of 97 and 69%, respectively. Inadequate NK was found among about 80 and 54% of D1B players and coaches, respectively. Inadequate NK was found to be independently associated with lack of nutrition education in D1B players. Conclusions Despite widespread lack of adequate NK among D1B players and coaches in Lebanon, our sports clubs do not have dietitians. Basketball sports clubs in Lebanon should start to budget for hiring a dietitian or carrying out nutrition education campaigns that are based on analyses of incorrect responses of our study participants. Findings of this study are of tremendous significance to D1B players in Lebanon in terms of improving the athletes’ physical health and performance.

Sports Nutrition and Food Knowledge among Malaysian University Athletes

“…Future research should collate detailed information on this, including the course level. Surprisingly, our data showed that university athletes who had never seen a dietitian/nutritionist had a higher knowledge score (61.5%) than their counterparts (55.6%), contradicting previous findings [ 8 ]. Yet, we did not collect information on the consultation sessions’ frequency, duration, and purpose, which could explain this finding.…”

“…Previous studies found significant differences in knowledge scores based on sex [ 5 , 8 , 26 ], BMI classification [ 26 ], and sports category [ 26 ], which we did not observe in this study. While the general principle of sports nutrition is universal for all athletes worldwide, different studies used different sets of questions and assessed different knowledge domains.…”

“…Overall, the athletes had inadequate sports nutrition and food knowledge (mean score = 58.6%), with more than half having a knowledge score <60%. This finding was consistent with previous studies conducted among university athletes in the United States (59.6%) [ 19 ] and basketball athletes in Lebanon (50.2%) [ 8 ]. In contrast, elite athletes from five universities in the Punjab reportedly had good sports nutrition knowledge (71.2%) [ 20 ].…”

“…We gave one point for each correct answer and zero points for an incorrect answer or “I do not know.” The total raw score (ranged from 0 to 57) was proportionately transformed to a scale of 0–100. Due to the absence of a scoring system [ 4 ], we classified scores of 60% and above as adequate knowledge, and vice versa [ 8 ].…”

“…Athletes’ understanding of sports nutrition can thus influence their food choices, which in turn can affect their overall athletic performance [ 5 , 6 ]. Hence, athletes should obtain appropriate nutritional information from a credible and certified source, as this will shape their understanding of nutrition [ 7 , 8 ]. One strategy to increase nutritional awareness in athletes is through nutrition education programmes [ 9 , 10 ], such as individual nutrition counselling, group activities workshops, or online educational materials [ 11 , 12 , 13 ].…”