Nutritional behavior of sports students in Karlsruhe
- 17.09.2025
- English Articles
- Hannah Zimmermann
- Annelie Speckmaier
- Karin Bergmann
- Klaus Bös
Peer reviewed / Manuscript (original) submitted: 9 May 2024; revision accepted: 26 September 2024
An empirical study on dietary patterns, nutritional motives, and selfperceived physical-sporting performance
Introduction
A plant-based diet is recommended in foodbased dietary guidelines by national and international professional institutions [1–3]. This is defined as a diet “that consists mainly or almost entirely of plant-based foods” [4]. In veganism, only plant-based foods are consumed, while the proportion of animal products increases from vegetarian to flexitarian to omnivorous diets. Vegetarians largely avoid fish and meat, whereas flexitarians consume them only occasionally compared to omnivores [5]. Although vegetarianism and veganism have become firmly established diets in Germany, there is a lack of scientific data on the specific health expectations of student athletes in relation to these diets, including the desired improvements in performance.
Sports students are particularly well positioned to reflect the attitudes and expectations of health-conscious young people. Health, physical and mental performance, as well as environmental protection are generally important reasons for switching from an omnivorous to a flexitarian, vegetarian, or vegan diet. Adherents of the omnivorous diet – hereinafter referred to as omnivores – are not necessarily indifferent to environmental protection concerns. However, different weightings of reasons seem to shape individual dietary behavior [6]. ...
Abstract
Increasingly, people are choosing a vegan or vegetarian diet for ethical, health, or environmental reasons. The growing number of individuals following alternative dietary styles necessitates a more precise scientific examination of the potential and expected impacts on health and athletic performance. This pilot study is the first to investigate omnivorous, vegetarian, and vegan diets among sports students at the Karlsruhe university location and includes the participants' self-perceived physical-sporting performance (spsp). Based on 206 fully completed online questionnaires collected between 22.12.2022 and 26.01.2023, data were evaluated descriptively across all three groups and comparatively analyzed between omnivorous and vegetarian students using three-factor variance analyses. The results reveal differences between the groups in sample characteristics, nutritional motives, and spsp. Furthermore, the study highlights gender-specific variations in dietary and sports practices among sports students. These findings need to be analyzed in more detail in follow-up studies and should be taken into account in professional nutritional counseling and information for young adults.
