Relationship between nutrition knowledge and athlete perspectives on nutrition in Australian student-athletes

Athletes’ dietary intake impacts performance and recovery. Dietary intake is influenced by a variety of factors—including nutrition knowledge and perspectives on nutrition. In previous research, athletes have been found to have low nutrition knowledge scores (1) . A great deal of research has been done exploring how nutrition knowledge impacts dietary intake, but little has explored the relationships between nutrition knowledge and perspectives on nutrition in student-athletes. The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between nutrition knowledge and athlete perspectives on nutrition among Australian university student athletes. In this cross-sectional study, we recruited athletes within Australia, 18+ years of age, who are also enrolled in some form of post-secondary education (student-athletes). Data was collected on demographics (including age, weight, sport experience, type of sport, and education), nutrition knowledge (NK) (Abridged Nutrition for Sport Knowledge Questionnaire (ANSKQ)) and attitude towards dietary behaviour (Athlete’s Perspective on Nutrition (APN)). APN includes three domains: attitude towards the behaviour, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control. Data analysis methods included Shapiro-Wilk testing for normality, and Pearsons or Spearman correlations between APN and ANSKQ, data. Results look at 49 participants from the student-athlete group. Student-athletes participated in a variety of sports (n = 25), with some student-athletes participated in two sports (n = 7). Mean APN scores (n = 51) were total 52.4 (SD = 5.0), and behavioural control 20.4 (SD = 2.40), with median APN scores for attitude (17.0 [IQR = 2.0]) and subjective norms (15.0 [IQR = 2.0]). Median NSKQ score (n = 49) for the full survey was average (21.0 [IQR = 2.5] out of 35 total), with mean general nutrition knowledge scores of 6.8 (SD = 1.7) and sport nutrition knowledge scores of 13.4 (SD = 3.7). Correlation tests were carried out between NK scores and APN scores (n = 48). Statistically significant, moderate correlations were found between APN scores for behavioural control and both total NK (rs = 0.357, p = 0.013) and sport NK (n = 44, rs = 0.329, p = 0.029), with borderline significant, moderate correlations for APN scores for behavioural control on general NK (rs = 0.284, p = 0.051) and total APN score and sport NK (rs = 0.287, p = 0.058). In this first study of university student-athletes in Australia, NK scores are consistent with other studies. The relationship between nutrition knowledge scores and behavioural control, which indicates ‘the ease or difficulty of performing the behavior’ (2) , could indicate these factors have an impact on dietary intake within athletes. This exploration may assist in the development of holistic tools to improve dietary intake within athletes in the long-term. Future analysis should explore the impact of NK and APN scores on dietary intake.