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ATHLETES’ KNOWLEDGE OF REDUCED SPORTS NUTRITION
Authors: Danilo Bojanic, Ivan Vasiljevic, Jovica Petkovic, Aldijana Muratovic
Number of views: 380
Decades of research support the theory that when there are sports competitions
there is also the question of what to eat and drink in order to enhance sports performance.
Optimal diet can reduce fatigue, and allow athletes who train longer and
compete to recovering faster (Lin and Lee, 2005). Nutritional status has a direct
impact on the level of physical effect. In other words, the physical condition of preparation
much depends on the nutritional status of persons engaged in sport (Beals
and Manore, 1998). Methods: The sample was composed of 60 professional athletes
from Montenegro (football, basketball and judo). Knowledge of reduced sports nutrition
was tested by means of a standardized questionnaire. The questionnaire was
designed to determine the knowledge of sports nutrition, the ingredients that are necessary
in order to provide a sufficient amount of energy for training and competition,
the dietary supplements, a meal prior to the competition as well as dehydration and rehydration
during training and competition. Results: According to the results as a whole,
it can be concluded that the professional athletes’ knowledge of sports nutrition is
at a satisfactory level. Out of 1200 responses 787 correct answers were achieved, or
65.5%. However, when looking at the individual responses then the satisfaction with
the relative high percentage is not equal since we observed large gaps on very important
issues related to sports nutrition. Discussion: By analyzing and comparing research
results (Matkovic, Prince & Cigrovski, 2006),in a sample of 56 basketball and
skiing coaches, 77.8% of correct answers were received. From a survey (Vasiljevic,
Bojanic, Petkovic & Muratovic, 2014) of 30 licensed coaches from Montenegro (football,
handball, basketball, volleyball, athletics and tennis) 78.,1% of correct answers were received. By looking into the results of our study, it is clear that the results
indicate that athletes provided a lower percentage of correct answers in relation to
sports coaches, which was expected.. If we take into account the fact that athletes often
use a dietary supplement exactly as recommended by coaches, it would be expected
that the people who advise taking these supplements should know about any problems.