Nutritional Assessment
For optimal sport performance, its vital to assess the athlete nutritional status. Assessments must be accurate and at the same time comprehensive. It is very important to initially asses the person to determine whether she is in good nutritional and physical status to engage in physical activity or to start a competition. Examples to this are that the competitive athlete is sometimes underweight or on a restricted diet high in supplements with a goal of having low body fat and improve performance and an sedentary recreational athlete may be overweight and on cyclical dieting. Both could be suffering from nutritional imbalances.
Some of the common techniques to assess food intake for athletes are :
a) Diet Records: Athletes writes down all beverages and food consumed each day for a period of at least 3 days. Portion sizes are either measured or estimated.
b) 24 Hour Dietary Recall : Used as a quick nutrition assessment to determine an athlete daily intake. One disadvantage is that it might not represent usual food intake.
c) Food Frequency Questionnaires : These can assist to determine the specific amount of macronutrients ( Water, Carbohydrates, Proteins, Fats) or micronutrients ( Vitamins, Minerals, Antioxidants) an individual ingests.
As an alternative to asses nutrient status of a client is the determination though blood and urinary markers of micronutrients and other biomarkers of macronutrient intake.
At Texas Menopause we evaluate athletes nutritional status by focusing on a detailed medical history and food intake questionnaire , comprehensive physical examination in conjunction with selected laboratory test aimed at detecting specific nutrient and hormonal deficiencies to identify those who have nutritional abnormalities or at risk for future abnormalities.
Our comprehensive nutritional assessment includes:
Comprehensive nutritional history
Physical examination
Anthropometric Assessment ( Skin Folds, Waist| Hip Circumferences)
Strength Testing
Laboratory biomarkers including Hematologic, Blood Biochemistry, Micronutrient testing, Antioxidant levels
Bone Mineral Density for menopausal patients
Hormonal status including Estrogen, Progesterone, Testosterone, Adrenal Hormones, Insulin, Protein Glycation, Estrogen Metabolism, Melatonin, Cortisol levels
