66 basketball players and 141 football players, almost evenly split among males and females, from 4 medical and 8 nonmedical schools (mean age 21.8) filled out a two-part questionnaire. The first part was demographic information and whether or not the subjects had any nutrition training, whereas the second part of the questionnaire examined the meat of the issue: sports nutrition knowledge.
I found Jesseri et al’s description of the questionnaire completely unsatisfactory, so I looked up the reference they used for the measure’s reliability and validity, and found a little more information.
The sports nutrition knowledge questionnaire was developed by six sports dieticians whose questions on concepts relating to sports nutrition were based on their knowledge and expertise of “practices and misconceptions” encountered by athletes and coaches as well as on literature.
The questionnaire is 84 questions (according to the creators. The Jesseri article says 88) divided into five subcategories: 1) The ‘general nutrition concepts’ subsection, which comprised about half the questions, and dealt with identifying the main macro- and micronutrient in specific foods; 2) the recovery subsection (7 questions), which included theoretical and practical sports nutrition aspects; 3) the fluid subsection (5 questions), which asked about adequate fluid intake pre-, during, and post-workout; 4) the weight subsection (15 questions), which asked about weight gain (largely based on myths regarding protein) and weight loss; and, 5) the supplement subsection (11 questions), which addressed athletic supplements, especially creatine.
I wish I had sample questions, had more idea of what the questionnaire was about, and had more information on how the instrument was formed and had more substance, and I only went into the detail I did because I think it is important to know exactly what “sports nutrition knowledge” means in regards to this study and its findings and implications.
The results section too did not go into depth nearly as much as I would have liked. I am very interested in this topic, so I was disappointed. That said, the overall knowledge score was 33.2%, and women, athletes at med schools, those who had completed a university nutrition class, and those who got their information from a nutritionist or dietician scored better than their peers, and these were independent predictors.
For sources of information, 89.4% got theirs from their coach, which is important because, as the authors state, most have little nutrition-specific education (much like how I always say to never trust a personal trainer about nutrition unless they have a separate and specific degree or certificate in nutrition), followed by the media (e.g., cooking shows on which chefs impart their own nutrition beliefs, and, sadly, only two reported a dietician or nutritionist being in the top three sources. Further, only 3 subjects got their info from physicians, and 11 from college classes.
I really wish the subcategories section were richer and provided more in depth information, and there is some more information than I am providing here (barely), but for the subcategories, athletes scored highest on the nutrient subcategory (although none scored higher than 45.3%), and lowest in the supplement category.
The authors find the fact that the total mean percentage of wrong answers overrode the unsure responses (the questionnaire allowed for “yes,” “no,” and “unsure” answers) noteworthy because if they had answered “unsure,” maybe subjects would be more likely to look up the information or at least realize their gaps in knowledge, whereas wrong answers are more likely to indicate that subjects truly believe their responses are correct and are more likely to follow (and maybe pass along to others) faulty information. The authors didn’t say all of that, but that is what I understand and do agree with.
One finding that I think totally also pertains to bodybuilders and personal trainers, as well as the general public, is that two-thirds of athletes thought protein powder can increase size and muscle mass and 47% of men and 43% of women thought protein powder was necessary. I know people think this when it comes to cutting as well, and not just bulking.
Another comparison to bodybuilders is that a study found that96.8% did not know the important role minerals play and 88.2% did not know the importance of water. The latter really surprised me.
I do not think the fact that this study was an Iranian one matters at all. I think the fact is that people know little about nutrition and often obtain their knowledge from less-than-reputable sources, and athletes are hardly immune to that. Ones who are getting their knowledge from coaches and trainers probably think they are in good hands, but they these people are really doing them a disservice.
It might be important to note that Iranian schoolchildren do not receive any nutrition education in their curriculum. Changing this might be one change that would make a difference in both future athletes and coach’s knowledge of nutrition and provide a solid basis for nutrition as a whole. Moreover, requiring classes in college would do even more benefit as would having dieticians or nutritionists involved, especially as there is currently no defined position for them on sports-science teams in Iran. Providing college athletes with proper sources of information, which did make a statistically significant difference in this study, could also help dispel myths and increase athletes’ knowledge-base. Of course teaching coaches about sports nutrition could be key since the majority of athletes, and not surprisingly, I might add, get their info from them.
randi morse, randi.morse@gmail.com, newton, ma
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