Abstract
Although dehydration of ≥2% body weight (BW) loss significantly impairs endurance performance, dehydration remains prevalent among athletes and may be owing to a lack of knowledge in relation to fluid requirements. The aim of this study was to assess the hydration status of university/club level athletes (n=430) from a range of sports/activities (army officer cadet training; bootcamp training; cycling; Gaelic Athletic Association camogie, football and hurling; golf; hockey; netball; rugby; running (sprinting and endurance); Shotokan karate and soccer) immediately before and after training/competition and to assess their nutritional knowledge. Urine specific gravity (USG) was measured immediately before and after exercise and BW loss during exercise was assessed. Nutritional knowledge was assessed using a validated questionnaire. 31.9% of athletes commenced exercise in a dehydrated state (USG >1.020) with 43.6% of participants dehydrated post-training/competition. Dehydration was particularly prevalent (>40% of cohort) among karateka, female netball players, army officer cadets, and golfers. Golfers that commenced a competitive 18 hole round dehydrated took a significantly higher number of strokes to complete the round in comparison to their euhydrated counterparts (79.5 ± 2.1 vs. 75.7 ± 3.9 strokes, p = .049). Nutritional knowledge was poor among participants (median total score [IQR]; 52.9% [46.0, 59.8]), albeit athletes who were euhydrated at the start of exercise had a higher overall score in comparison to dehydrated athletes (55.2% vs. 50.6%, p = .001). Findings from the current study, therefore, have significant implications for the education of athletes in relation to their individual fluid requirements around exercise.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 158-168 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism |
Volume | 27 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published (in print/issue) - 31 Jan 2017 |
Keywords
- Gaelic
- golf
- urine specific gravity
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'High prevalence of dehydration and inadequate nutritional knowledge among university and club level athletes.'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Profiles
-
Pamela Magee
- School of Biomedical Sciences - Senior Lecturer in Human Nutrition
- Faculty Of Life & Health Sciences - Senior Lecturer
Person: Academic