1. 1 Introduction to Sports Nutrition
chapter 1 1
Introduction to Sports Nutrition
Introduction to Nutrition for Exercise and Health
Dr. Iftikhar Alam, PhD, RD
Nutrition for Physical Activity
Lecture 1
Author name here for Edited books

2. Sports Nutrition Introduction
Proper nutrition can help:
Improve exercise performance
Decrease recovery time from strenuous exercise
Prevent exercise-associated injuries due to fatigue
Provide the fuel required during times of high-intensity training
Control weight
Help reduce the risk of numerous chronic diseases
T2DM, CVD, hypertension, obesity, osteoporosis, some cancers

3. Role of Nutrition in Exercise and Sport

4. Role of Nutrition in Exercise & Sport
Nutrition plays a vital role in exercise performance and training
Benefits both competitive and recreational athletes
Good nutrition is especially important for athletes who:
Compete in sports tournaments
Engage in strenuous PA on a daily or more than daily basis
Examples?

5. Injury Reduction Risk of injury during exercise
Fuel & hydration status impacts level of fatigue and ability to concentrate
Risk of injury post-exercise
Proper nutrition can help speed the healing process for injured athletes
Surgery / Bone Injuries: requires extra kcal & nutrients, including protein, vitamins, and minerals

6. Weight Control / Body Composition
Nutrition plays an important role in weight control and body composition
Few individuals are happy with their weight, body fat levels, or body shape
Realistic expectations can improve health and quality of life and reduce stress levels
Disordered eating tendencies tend to be higher in athletes than the general population, esp. women

7. Essential Nutrients & Dietary Recommendations

8. Essential vs. Nonessential Nutrients
Discovery
Evolved from observations that certain diseases occurred in populations that consumed poor diets
Able to show that including specific foods in the diet could correct or prevent the diseases
Essential nutrients: food constituents that prevent disease or health problems (“indispensible”)
Nonessential nutrients: nutrients that could be deleted from the diet with no adverse health effects (“dispensable”)
E.g. physiologically essential nutrient for the body but classified as a nonessential nutrient?

10. Conditionally Essential Nutrients
Conditionally essential: some “essential” nutrients are synthesized by the body from precursors, and interactions between nutrients could alter requirements
Potentially affected by:
Some disease states
Genetic defects
Stress
Illness
Aging

11. Conditionally Essential Nutrients
Criteria to establish the conditional essentiality of a nutrient:
The plasma concentration of the nutrient declines into the subnormal range, although the body should be able to synthesize the nutrient.
Chemical, structural, or functional abnormalities appear that are associated with low blood concentrations of the nutrient.
Dietary supplementation of the nutrient returns plasma concentrations to normal and corrects the abnormalities seen when blood concentrations are low.

12. Desirable & Beneficial Nutrients
Nonessential nutrients that are important for good health and disease prevention
New nutrient category: “desirable or beneficial for health” (Carpenter and Harper, )
Examples: fibre, phytochemicals, carotenoids, amino acid derivatives
Are NOT classified as essential or conditionally essential nutrients