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European Journal of Sport Science - 2025 - Cremona - Validation of the Modified Athlete Dietary Index mADI Against a560.19 kB
Published VersionCC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Validation of the Modified Athlete Dietary Index (mADI) Against a 7-Day Food Record Assessing Food Consumption Among Irish Athletes
European Journal of Sport Science, Vol.26(1), pp.1-14
2026
PMID: 41406002
Abstract
Nutrition is crucial for enhancing performance and overall health among athletes. However, detailed dietary assessments are often time-consuming, challenging to conduct accurately, and burdensome. Therefore, there is a need for a more time and cost-effective method for assessing dietary intake among Irish athletes. This study aimed to validate a modified Athlete Dietary Index (mADI) as a screening tool for use among Irish athletes. Eligible participants included team and individual sport athletes over the age of 18 years, currently competing in competitions. Participants completed the electronic mADI followed by a 7-day food record (7DFR) using Qualtrics and Nutritics software platforms. Misreporting was assessed using the Goldberg cut-off. Validity for each food group was evaluated based on weighted kappa, two-way mixed effects intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), relative bias, and Bland-Altman graphs. Eighty athletes (28.74 ± 9.77 years) completed the mADI and 7DFR. Poor validity was found for servings per day (% bias > 20%, ICC < 0.50). Only eggs showed good validity for servings per week (−1.7% bias, ICC = 0.55). Acceptable to good validity (% bias < 10.9%) was observed for days per week, with 54% of food groups demonstrating good validity. Weighted kappa indicated an acceptable level of agreement for 62% of the comparisons. Overall, ICC suggested poor reliability for all but three food groups (eggs 0.55; fish 0.52; plant-based protein 0.63). The mADI demonstrated limited validity in assessing diet quality among athletes but showed potential as a screening tool to evaluate habitual dietary intake patterns in large groups of Irish athletes.
Details
- Title
- Validation of the Modified Athlete Dietary Index (mADI) Against a 7-Day Food Record Assessing Food Consumption Among Irish Athletes
- Authors
- Alexandra Cremona (Corresponding Author) - University of LimerickHamid Miri Heidarian (Author) - University College CorkKeela Spillane (Author) - University of LimerickBrian Coady (Author) - University of LimerickLouise Capling (Author) - The University of Sydney
- Publication details
- European Journal of Sport Science, Vol.26(1), pp.1-14
- Publisher
- John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
- Date published
- 2026
- DOI
- 10.1002/ejsc.70110
- ISSN
- 1746-1391; 1536-7290
- PMID
- 41406002
- Copyright note
- © 2025 The Author(s). European Journal of Sport Science published by Wiley-VCH GmbH on behalf of European College of Sport Science. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
- Data Availability
- The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study will be made available in an open access repository.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Health - Nutrition & Dietetics
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991192645902621
- Output Type
- Journal article
Metrics
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