Dietary Intake, Body Composition, and Nutrition Knowledge of Australian Football and Soccer Players: Implications for Sports Nutrition Professionals in Practice

TLDR

Sports nutrition professionals aim to improve athletic performance by influencing nutrition knowledge, dietary intake, and body composition, and understanding how these factors interrelate across sports can guide more targeted practice. This study examined differences and relationships among nutrition knowledge, dietary intake, and body composition in elite and subelite Australian football players and elite soccer players. An observational design measured body composition with DXA, dietary intake via multiple‑pass 24‑hour recall, and nutrition knowledge using two validated questionnaires in 66 male players from the two sports. Participants showed weak nutrition knowledge (mean 57 %) with no group differences, carbohydrate intake below recommendations and protein intake above, and a small positive correlation between knowledge and fat‑free soft tissue mass, suggesting actionable targets for sports nutrition practice.

Abstract

Sports nutrition professionals aim to influence nutrition knowledge, dietary intake and body composition to improve athletic performance. Understanding the interrelationships between these factors and how they vary across sports has the potential to facilitate better-informed and targeted sports nutrition practice. This observational study assessed body composition (DXA), dietary intake (multiple-pass 24-hr recall) and nutrition knowledge (two previously validated tools) of elite and subelite male players involved in two team-based sports; Australian football (AF) and soccer. Differences in, and relationships between, nutrition knowledge, dietary intake and body composition between elite AF, subelite AF and elite soccer players were assessed. A total of 66 (23 ± 4 years, 82.0 ± 9.2 kg, 184.7 ± 7.7 cm) players participated. Areas of weaknesses in nutrition knowledge are evident (57% mean score obtained) yet nutrition knowledge was not different between elite and subelite AF and soccer players (58%, 57% and 56%, respectively, p > .05). Dietary intake was not consistent with recommendations in some areas; carbohydrate intake was lower (4.6 ± 1.5 g/kg/day, 4.5 ± 1.2 g/kg/day and 2.9 ± 1.1 g/kg/day for elite and subelite AF and elite soccer players, respectively) and protein intake was higher (3.4 ± 1.1 g/kg/day, 2.1 ± 0.7 g/kg/day and 1.9 ± 0.5 g/kg/day for elite and subelite AF and elite soccer players, respectively) than recommendations. Nutrition knowledge was positively correlated with fat-free soft tissue mass ( n = 66; r 2 = .051, p = .039). This insight into known modifiable factors may assist sports nutrition professionals to be more specific and targeted in their approach to supporting players to achieve enhanced performance.