Macronutritional Knowledge Trends Among Sub-elite Rugby Players From 2011 To 2021

PURPOSE: Assess sub-elite rugby players macronutritional knowledge, post professionally 2011-2021, to note importance of credible nutrition education for health and performance. BACKGROUND: Players must maintain good nutritional habits for peak training and competition, yet the athlete’s knowledge of nutritional habits is severely lacking. Literature notes female and male athletes scored below 50% on nutritional knowledge questionnaires. This lack of knowledge is concerning as many athletes (89.4%) reported coaches as a main source of nutritional information. Athletes’ limited nutrition knowledge and weak sources require further study to address these gaps. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional study survey administered to sub-elite rugby 7 s players aged 14 to 40 at 2010-11 Las Vegas Invitational/Northeast RFU Summer 7 s and readministered, at 2021 Empire Geographic Union 7 s Qualifiers. The questionnaire, aligned with current nutritional guidelines and validated surveys, and analyzed using a likelihood Chi-square to compare the cohorts. RESULTS: Survey responses in 2010 (Male = 149, Female = 26), and 2021 (M = 22, F = 46) were assessed for macronutrient knowledge over time. A multinomial Chi-square analysis was utilized to demonstrate significantly different top responses between cohorts: “Do you think this food is high or low in protein: peanuts” (χ2 = 45.889, df = 2, p = 0.39), “Do you think this food is high or low in saturated fat: butter” (χ2 = 41.485 df = 2, p = 0.24), “Do you think this food is low in fat: rice” (χ2 = 12.902 df = 2, p = 0.24). The overall correctly identified macronutrients included food with high amounts of protein (2010: 80%, 2021: 84%) foods with high amounts of saturated fats (2010: 78%, 2021: 85%), and foods low in fat (2010: 78%, 2021: 94%). CONCLUSION: This study reveals slight improvements in rugby players' macronutritional knowledge from 2010 to 2021. Despite these gains, overall understanding remains limited, highlighting the need for nutritional education. The variability in the reliability of the primary sources of information, highlights the necessity to foster stronger nutritional habits and understanding. Players understanding the balance of macronutrients to aid the energy demands for training and competition, as well as, recovery, heightens performance and decreases fatigue.