Dietary fibre intake among recreational athletes : A quantitative cross-sectional study

Sammanfattning: Introduction: Dietary recommentations for athletes fucus mainly om macronutrient intake and rarely consider dietary fibre. Low-energy and digestion are cited when recommending lower fibre intakes. Fibre intake can be beneficial to health and studies show inverse relationships between fibre intake and some non-comminicable diseases. There are currently few studies that investigate fibre intake among recreational athletes. Objective: Measure intake of fibre for female, recreational athletes and compare their intakes with fibre recommendations in Sweden. Investigate understanding of fibre, supplementation use and the extent of over/under reporting. Method: Three-day estimated dietary assessment (n=21) and activity log. A complementary questionnaire (n=24). The participants were female, recreational (non-elite) athletes aged 30-65 yeras. Results: The results indicated the group had a median intake of 21 g/day which is more than the women in Riksmaten 2010-11 (18 g/day). Fibre intake recmmended by NNR 2012 (25-35 g/day) was not fulfilled. The group showed high prevalence of vitamin and mineral supplementation but protein supplementation vas less common. The majority reported a good understanding of fibre and deemed their fibre intake sufficient. One-third of the group considered lowering fibre intake before training/competition. Conclusion: Recreational athletes ate more fibre than the women in Riksmaten. Their fibre intake was lower than NNR, 2012. The majority of the participants claimed to have sufficient knowledge about the benefits of fibre. The study shows a high usage of vitamin and mineral supplementation but an insufficient dietary fibre intake despite attempting to consciouslu choose fibre rich foods.