TY - JOUR

T1 - Methodology of dietary assessment in athletes: concepts and pitfalls

AU - Magkos, Faidon

AU - Yannakoulia, Mary

N1 - (Ekstern)

PY - 2003

Y1 - 2003

N2 - Purpose of review: Evaluation of an athlete's diet is important in both clinical practice and research. The main purpose of this review is to provide health professionals with guidance regarding the special issues that are likely to be encountered when assessing the dietary intake of sportspersons.Recent findings: A number of methods may be used for the dietary assessment of individuals and/or groups of athletes, including retrospective (diet recall, food-frequency questionnaire, and diet history) and prospective (diet record, duplicate portion) techniques. A 3-4-day estimated diet record is the most widely used approach, but collection of single or multiple diet recalls is also common. Care must be taken, however, to ensure that days of diet monitoring accurately reflect usual food consumption during the period of interest. Under-reporting of habitual energy intake is widespread among athletes, and its magnitude should be carefully addressed when interpreting the results of dietary assessment. Other issues, specifically related to sportspersons, that are often neglected include adequacy of standard portion sizes, frequency of snacking, fluid intake, supplement use, weight-control practices, and seasonality of sport activities and food consumption.Summary: There are subtle methodological differences in the dietary assessment of athletes and non-athletes, which, when taken into consideration, may substantially increase the quality of intake data and optimise the outcome of dietary intervention.

AB - Purpose of review: Evaluation of an athlete's diet is important in both clinical practice and research. The main purpose of this review is to provide health professionals with guidance regarding the special issues that are likely to be encountered when assessing the dietary intake of sportspersons.Recent findings: A number of methods may be used for the dietary assessment of individuals and/or groups of athletes, including retrospective (diet recall, food-frequency questionnaire, and diet history) and prospective (diet record, duplicate portion) techniques. A 3-4-day estimated diet record is the most widely used approach, but collection of single or multiple diet recalls is also common. Care must be taken, however, to ensure that days of diet monitoring accurately reflect usual food consumption during the period of interest. Under-reporting of habitual energy intake is widespread among athletes, and its magnitude should be carefully addressed when interpreting the results of dietary assessment. Other issues, specifically related to sportspersons, that are often neglected include adequacy of standard portion sizes, frequency of snacking, fluid intake, supplement use, weight-control practices, and seasonality of sport activities and food consumption.Summary: There are subtle methodological differences in the dietary assessment of athletes and non-athletes, which, when taken into consideration, may substantially increase the quality of intake data and optimise the outcome of dietary intervention.

KW - Diet

KW - Diet Records

KW - Drinking

KW - Energy Intake

KW - Female

KW - Guidelines as Topic

KW - Humans

KW - Male

KW - Mental Recall

KW - Nutrition Assessment

KW - Nutritional Requirements

KW - Seasons

KW - Sports/physiology

U2 - 10.1097/00075197-200309000-00007

DO - 10.1097/00075197-200309000-00007

M3 - Review

C2 - 12913671

VL - 6

SP - 539

EP - 549

JO - Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care

JF - Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care

SN - 1363-1950

IS - 5

ER -