Study of close relation of nutritional knowledge, practices and attitudes towards health risks of competitive swimmers

Female athletes often have inadequate diets due to lack of nutritional knowledge and nutritional misconceptions. Health and Nutrition evaluation study revealed that there was a close relation of nutrition practices and health risks of those active in the female athletes developing lower energy, menstrual dysfunction, and low bone mass. Now a days it is clear that nutrition has an effect on sports. It is known that factors such as dehydration & lack of energy supply can limit performance. Nutrition plays a very important role in attaining high level of physical performance in swimming. So swimmers soon come to recognize that food is their source of energy for training and competitions as well as a significant determinant of body composition. To assess nutritional status of swimmers various anthropometric methods are used, which gives us an indication of the present status of an individual. A questionnaire method is used to judge the level of nutritional knowledge not only can facilitate the development of health promotion but also provide information about dietary behaviors & practices. The results of the current study suggest that female swimmers do not benefit from education on the risks of consuming too much or too little of the macronutrients, and the consequences of a low carbohydrate diet on swimming performance as reflected from the survey report which showed good practice only in 38% whereas poor practice was shown in more than 60% cases. The purpose of the present study is to focus on this aspect and requisite measures to advice to the swimmers regarding their day to day dietary consumption and counseling them with enriched knowledge, attitude and practices about the proper dietary habits.