Optimal Nutritional Strategies for Athletes with Disabilities: Key Factors Identified by Athletes and Sports Dietitians

Flavia Traven

doi:10.25907/00331

Athletes who follow optimal nutritional strategies are able to maintain good health, achieve an ideal body weight and composition, and maximise sports performance. Past research, however, has focused primarily on developing nutritional strategies for able-bodied athletes, leaving doubt as to whether these guidelines are suitable for the growing number of athletes with disabilities. The primary aim of this thesis, therefore, was to identify those key factors considered to be important in developing optimal nutritional strategies for athletes with disabilities from the perspectives of both the athletes themselves and sports dieticians. In the first of two studies, members of the 2004 Australian Paralympic swimming team were surveyed about their nutritional strategies around the time of competition. The team comprised 26 swimmers with disabilities (12 males, 14 females). A 31-item self-administered questionnaire was completed by the team at a training camp in July, 2004. Most swimmers had competed at a national/international level for at least 2 years. However, only two swimmers had sought professional nutrition advice on more than five occasions. While 46% of the team commence their nutritional preparation at least 3 days before competitions (BC), 35% (4 males, 7 females) commence 24 hours BC. During the week BC, about 70% of the swimmers reported that they consume the same amount of food (total food), with 58% increasing high carbohydrate foods, 77% maintaining high protein foods and 69% decreasing high fat foods. A majority (77%) of the swimmers increased their water consumption BC and 54% increase their sports drinks consumption. Most of the swimmers (88%) had their last meal 3-4 hours prior to a race, with 42% consuming a high carbohydrate meal at this time. The survey findings indicated that the nutritional strategies adopted by the Paralympic swimmers leading up to competition were quite varied and, in some cases, may not have been appropriate for achieving peak performance for competition. Professional dietary advice obtained by the swimmers with disabilities also varied, indicating the need for closer attention to the nutritional needs of the swimmers around the time of competition. In the second study, 26 sports dietitians (25 females, 1 male; mean age 36.6 ± 11.6 years) who were members of Sports Dietitians Australia participated in an on-line survey (39 item questionnaire) about their professional experience, interest and opinions in providing nutritional advice to people with disabilities, both athletes and non-athletes. Most of the sports dietitians (80%) lived in Australia and worked across several different employment areas, and 14 of them were accredited anthropometrists. Only eight (30.8%) of the sports dietitans were very interested in the topic of nutritional advice for people with disabilities, with seven (26.9%) showing little interest. Some of the sports dietitians had worked with athletes with disabilities (n=10; 38.5%) and non-athletes with disabilities (n=14; 53.9%). The sports dietitians mostly agreed that they would require details of the classification, level and duration of the client’s disability, socioeconomic background, physical injuries experienced, and types and doses of medications and nutritional/herbal supplements. However, there was disagreement on the use of dietary reference intakes based on healthy able-bodied people and the presence of a caregiver during consultation. The sports dietitians considered traditional anthropometric measures such as weight, BMI, sum of skinfolds, waist-hip ratio and the restricted anthropometric profile to be useful for athletes with a spinal cord injury and cerebral palsy. The findings of this study suggest that Australian sports dietitians currently provide dietary advice to athletes and non-athletes with disabilities using guidelines based on the healthy able-bodied population. Several of the dietitians, however, stated that there was a need for specific anthropometric and nutritional guidelines for people with disabilities. The sports dietitians also identified the need for more professional development (e.g. reference materials, training courses) in providing dietary advice to people with disabilities.

Optimal Nutritional Strategies for Athletes with Disabilities: Key Factors Identified by Athletes and Sports Dietitians

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