Knowledge, eating practices and nutritional intake in bodybuilding athletes.

Abstract

Introduction: bodybuilding is a sports discipline that entails the use of inadequate "diets" or "strategies", which include a high protein intake, modification of the hydration state and abuse of nutritional supplements that can cause health effects. .
Objective: to identify knowledge, eating practices, and macronutrient intake in a group of male bodybuilding athletes.
Materials and methods: a quantitative, observational and cross-sectional study was chosen. The study population consisted of 32 men who practice bodybuilding, whose ages are between 18 and 40 years old, and who are based in Cali. For data collection, a questionnaire on food knowledge and practices was used, as well as a frequency of food consumption and three 24-hour reminders (R24H) to determine their nutritional intake.
Results: it was evidenced that 56.25% of men have between six and seven moments of consumption in the day. On the other hand, 100% of the participants consume whey protein supplement. 53.1% prefer to consume more carbohydrates when they are in the muscle volume stage, while 40.63% choose to include proteins when they are in that stage. It should be added that all those who participated in this study agreed to reduce the amount of liquids prior to a competition.
Finally, on average, men consume 44 kcal/kg/day, 1.9 g/kg/day of protein, 6.2 g/kg/day of carbohydrates, and 1.2 g/kg/day of fat.
Conclusion: due to the stages of bodybuilding such as muscle volume, muscle definition and tuning, the practitioners of this discipline require an adequate periodization of food to avoid imbalances in their nutritional status.