Nutritional recommendations for sportsmen

Improved performance and health

Aloys Berg, Peter Deibert, Daniel König, Freiburg

Both sportsmen and non-sportsmen usually make the same nutritional errors. Experience with sportsmen has shown that patterns of activity and nutrition do not always change in parallel.

Only someone who feeds himself properly can expect his body to perform at a high level. If a sportsman is to achieve satisfactory energy balance, the composition of the nutrients and the quality of macronutrients are of decisive importance. This guarantees both the necessary nutritional density and the supply of nutrients thought – for physiological or biochemical reasons – to be related to physical performance in sport. If the links between nutrient deficiencies and restrictions in physical performance are born in mind, specific nutritional advice can be used to change sportsmen’s nutritional habits and thus to improve their performance. This is ethically acceptable and may even improve their health.

Keywords: nutrient deficiencies in sport, carbohydrate quality, fat quality, building muscles, protein concentrates, oxidative stress, secondary plant metabolites, vitamin E

Sie finden den Artikel in deutscher Sprache in Ernährungs Umschau 11/08 ab Seite 592.