Original articles  BODY COMPOSITION, SPORT NUTRITION AND SUPPLEMENTATION 

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2002 March;42(1):65-70

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Nutritional status and body composition of juvenile elite female gymnasts

Filaire E., Lac G.

From the CRIS, UFRAPS Lyon I, Université Claude Bernard, Villeurbanne, France *Laboratoire de la Performance Motrice, Bat Biologie B-Physiologie Les Cézeaux, Aubière, France

Back­ground. The pur­pose of ­this ­study was to ­examine ­body com­po­si­tion, die­tary ­intake and ­energy expen­di­ture in 12 ­young ­female ­elite gym­nasts ­aged 10.1±0.3 ­years, ­doing a phys­ical exer­cise of 15 hrs·­week-1. The ­results ­were com­pared ­with a con­trol ­group con­sisting of ­nine vol­un­teer ­school ­girls age ­matched ­doing ­less ­than 4 hrs·wk-1 of phys­ical exer­cise.
­Methods. Assess­ments ­included die­tary ­intake for 7 ­days, anthro­po­metric meas­ure­ments (­body ­weight, ­height, arm cir­cum­fer­ence, tri­ceps and sub­scap­ular skin­folds, ­body ­mass ­index). ­Body fat per­centage was esti­mated ­using the ­Slaughter equa­tion. Anthro­po­metric meas­ure­ments and nutri­tional ­intake ­were ­recorded in ­autumn.
­Results. The gym­nasts ­were ­shorter and had ­lower ­body ­weight com­pared ­with con­trols (p<0.05). Per­centage of ­body fat was sig­nif­i­cantly ­lower in gym­nasts ­versus con­trols (p<0.01). Gym­nasts had ­higher per­centage of fat ­free ­mass (p<0.01) ­than the ref­er­ence ­group. ­Daily ­energy ­intake met ­daily ­energy require­ment in ­both ­groups. Dis­tri­bu­tion of ­energy for ­both ­groups was ­almost iden­tical, ­with approx­i­mately 14% ­from pro­tein, 48% ­from car­bo­hy­drate, and 37% ­from fat. The ­average ­intakes of poly­un­sat­u­rated fat ­were low in the two ­groups. The ­main ­daily ­intake of ­most nutri­ents in ­both ­groups ­were in accor­dance ­with rec­om­men­da­tions; excep­tions ­were die­tary ­fibre, E and B6 vita­mins.
Con­clu­sions. The pri­mary ­finding of ­this inves­ti­ga­tion is ­that in ­both ­groups, the ­mean ­daily ­energy ­intake met the ­energy require­ment. ­Thus, the gym­nasts did not ­restrict ­total ­energy. The ­overall ­nutrient ­intake of the two ­groups may ­appear ade­quate. Prep­u­bertal gym­nasts ­have ­higher per­centage of fat ­free ­mass and ­daily ­energy expen­di­ture and die­tary ­intakes, but ­lower per­cent ­body fat ­than age ­matched con­trols.