Ameryk Monika, Świątkowski Maciej, Pujanek Małgorzata, Augustyniak Agnieszka, Szamocka Małgorzata. Evaluation of Nutrition and Eating Habits in Children and Adolescents Practicing Football in a Sports Club in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2016;6(13):11-26. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.229114 http://ojs.ukw.edu.pl/index.php/johs/article/view/4134 https://pbn.nauka.gov.pl/sedno-webapp/works/775007 The journal has had 7 points in Ministry of Science and Higher Education parametric evaluation. Part B item 754 (09.12.2016). 754 Journal of Education, Health and Sport eISSN 2391-8306 7 © The Author (s) 2016; This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper. Received: 05.12.2016. Revised 20.12.2016. Accepted: 31.12.2016. Evaluation of Nutrition and Eating Habits in Children and Adolescents Practicing Football in a Sports Club in Bydgoszcz, Poland Monika Ameryk, Maciej Świątkowski, Małgorzata Pujanek, Agnieszka Augustyniak, Małgorzata Szamocka Department of Gastroenterology and Nutrition Disorders, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Collegium Medicum, Bydgoszcz, Poland; Orginal Text published © The Author (s) 2016. Monika Ameryk, Maciej Świątkowski, Małgorzata Pujanek, Agnieszka Augustyniak, Małgorzata Szamocka. Evaluation of Nutrition and Eating Habits in Children and Adolescents Practicing Football in a Sports Club in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology. 4 (2016) 697-706. eISSN 2328-2150. DOI:10.17265/2328-2150/2016.12.007 Abstract Proper diet is important for children and adolescents practicing sports, providing nutrients for the correct growth, optimal performance and recovery. Purpose: The study evaluated the diet and eating habits of children and adolescents practicing football. Methods: The study involved 100 boys (aged 11–16). Eating habits and consumption of 33 products were assessed using a modified KomPAN questionnaire. Subsequently, indices of healthy and unhealthy diet were determined. Results: Only 30% respondents ate five meals per day and 16% kept fixed meal times. Almost 30% had a snack once daily, 90% ate fast food once a week, and 88% added sugar to beverages. One in ten ate sweets several times per week, while 20%—once daily. 86% ate fish once a week. 52% and 4% ate white and dark bread several times per day. Only 20% had buckwheat several times per week. White and red meat was eaten several times per week by 66.3% and 35.6%, while fish by only 5.7%. Only 20% had a moderate index of healthy diet and 90% had a low index of unhealthy diet. Conclusions: Education of young footballers in nutrition is necessary to correct their eating habits and improve physical performance. Keywords: Young Athletes, football, nutrition, eating habits, dietary behaviours