1. Nutritional habits of professional team sport athletes: An insight into the carbohydrate, fluid, and caffeine habits of English Premier League football players during match play.
- Author
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Kasper, Andreas M., Allan, James, Hodges, Daniel, Catterson, Paul, Mason, Liam, Fitzpatrick, John, Grantham, Nick, Morton, James P., Hearris, Mark A., and Close, Graeme L.
- Abstract
\nHighlightsTo better understand the in-match fuelling practices of elite football players and compare against current guidelines, we quantified the carbohydrate, fluid, and caffeine intake of players from an English Premier League club (
n = 22) during 90 min of competitive match-play. Mean carbohydrate intake across match-play was 17 ± 11 g.h−1 with players demonstrating a preference towards CHO-containing fluids (58%) when compared with semi-solids (38%) and solids (14%), respectively. CHO intake was significantly lower than reported by players (17 ± 11 vs 24.8 ± 11 g.h−1,p < 0.001) during initial consultation. Fluid was ingested at a rate of 0.45 ± 0.14 L.h−1, with 54, 40 and 6% of ingested fluid coming from water, carbohydrate, and electrolyte-only solutions, respectively. The majority of players (91%) met the UEFA guidelines for fluid consumption. Of the players who consumed caffeine across match-play (55%) the average dose was 233 ± 148 mg (2.8 ± 1.1 mg.kg−1 body mass [BM]), which meets the UEFA consensus guidelines for caffeine intake. Caffeine capsules (42%) and caffeine containing fluids (30%) were the preferred format prior to the warm-up whilst caffeine gum was exclusively used prior to kick-off and during the half-time period (100%). We conclude that 81% of the total playing squad failed to meet the current UEFA CHO intake recommendations of 30–60 g.h−1, which may be attributed to the preference towards fluid-based CHOs as the chosen format of delivery. Soccer players demonstrate sub-optimal in-match fuelling practices, with 81% of players failing to meet current UEFA CHO intake recommendations of 30-60 g.h−1Players demonstrate a preference towards fluid as the primary mode of CHO delivery over the use of semi-solid and solid formats.These data highlight the need for future research to test the efficacy of lower doses of CHO on elements of both physical and technical soccer performance in a dose-response manner.Future research is also necessary to investigate the impact of traditional guidelines and recommendations within football-specific contexts to assess their effectiveness and relevance in practical applications.Soccer players demonstrate sub-optimal in-match fuelling practices, with 81% of players failing to meet current UEFA CHO intake recommendations of 30-60 g.h−1Players demonstrate a preference towards fluid as the primary mode of CHO delivery over the use of semi-solid and solid formats.These data highlight the need for future research to test the efficacy of lower doses of CHO on elements of both physical and technical soccer performance in a dose-response manner.Future research is also necessary to investigate the impact of traditional guidelines and recommendations within football-specific contexts to assess their effectiveness and relevance in practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2024
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