Assessment of Nutritional Status, Nutritional Knowledge and Impact of Nutrition Education among Selected Sports Persons of Coimbatore District

Background: Nutrition plays an important role for attaining high level of achievement in sports and athletics, besides other factors such as motivation, skill, techniques, commitment, physical fitness and training. Studies suggest that athletes lack knowledge of nutrition, healthy food choices, components of a well-balanced diet, and the implications of nutrition on performance. Objectives: The aim of this study was to improve the science based knowledge of the role of nutrition in sports among those involved in athletic performance. Methods: One hundred sports persons (20-35 yrs) were selected through the purposive random sampling method from two different colleges situated in Coimbatore district, Tamilnadu, India. Athletes nutritional status was assessed by gathering information on the Anthropometry, Biochemical parameters, Dietary intake and imparting Education. All the selected samples completed the well structured, standardized and pretested interview schedule. Nutrition education was imparted to the participants at the end of the study. The collected data were statistically analyzed. Results: The results of the anthropometric measurement showed that majority (55 percent) of the selected sportspersons were underweight. The hemoglobin levels showed that about 60 % of selected sports person were anemic. There exists an inadequacy in dietary intake of important nutrients. The study showed the sports person lack nutrition knowledge. Nutrition education improved their mean awareness score from 7.753.52 to 15.354.43. Conclusion: The findings of the present study indicate that nutritional status of selected sports persons in Coimbatore district was poor. There exists a dietary inadequacy of both macro and micronutrients. Nutrition education has definitely improved the nutritional knowledge of the selected sports person.