Nutrition Knowledge And Performance Of D2 Athletes At A Historically Black College

BACKGROUND: Nutrition is an important part of an athletes’ performance, affecting physical performance, and recovery. Collegiate athletes have indicated barriers to adequate nutritional intake can include practice times making it difficult for athletes to get to the cafeteria for meals leading to food insecurity, and lack of nutrition knowledge in making healthy food choices. PURPOSE: The goal of this project is assess the nutritional knowledge of D2 athletes at an HBCU and its possible effect on athletic performance. METHODS: Participants were recruited from athletic teams at a Division 2 HBCU. Physical parameters measured were height, weight, BMI (calculated), waist circumference, BPrest, HRrest, and body composition via Bod Pod. Performance parameters included muscle strength (hand grip dynamometer), muscle endurance (push up test), and flexibility (sit and reach).Participants were then asked to complete a nutrition knowledge questionnaire covering basic nutrition (26 questions) and attitudes towards healthy foods and athletic performance (9 statements on a Lickert scale). RESULTS: Nine female and 13 male athletes (19.55 yrs, +/- 1.5 yrs) participated in the study. Two participants were Caucasian, 18 were black athletes, and 2 participants chose the “other” classification. Sports represented were women’s and men’s basketball, football, men’s volleyball, and cheer. Physical assessment results were BMI in the overweight category with women averaging 27.44 and men 27.85. Average body fat was 12.9% for women and 14.4% for men. Average waist circumference measures were in the low risk category for women (33.94 in.) and men (33.25 in.). Average BPrest was 121.36/70.36. HRrest was 61.14. Women correctly answered 14.67 questions (56%), while men answered 17.17 questions correctly (68%), for an average of 15.36 correct answers (60%). CONCLUSIONS: The overall nutrition knowledge of the athletes does not meet the minimum standard of 70% correct. The assessments indicated the athletes are healthy and performance parameters, while indicating a lack of strength, are not directly related to poor nutritional intake. Further studies providing interventions such as nutrition seminars, and meal planning for athletes are planned. USDA-NIFA