Taking nutritional support in competitive sport to a new level
With the NUTR-e-Screen research project, scientists at HAW Hamburg and the University of Leipzig want to set standards for how top athletes can be supported in their nutrition. The aim is to identify and reduce nutrition-related health and performance risks at an early stage, particularly among female athletes.
Dr. Anja Carlsohn, Professor of Nutritional Science at HAW Hamburg.
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International organizations such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have been calling for the regular collection of nutrition-related health data from athletes for years. However, there is no standardized nutritional data in Germany to date. This is despite the fact that nutrition-related health risks such as the so-called Relative Energy Deficiency in Sports (RED-S) or eating disorders are particularly common among female athletes internationally. In addition, nutritional surveys of top athletes are currently mainly carried out in analog form.
The research project "NUTR-e-Screen", which has now been launched by HAW Hamburg and the University of Leipzig in cooperation with the University of Education Schwäbisch Gmünd and the University Hospital Tübingen, addresses precisely this gap. It aims to digitize and standardize nutritional care in order to identify nutrition-related health and performance risks at an early stage - especially in women who participate in elite sports. The project is funded by the Federal Institute for Sports Science (BISp). The German Athletics Association (DLV), the German Swimming Association and the Olympic Training Centre Hamburg/Schleswig Holstein e.V.
"We want to optimize nutritional support for our athletes in Germany in line with international recommendations and offer standardized nutritional screening to as many state and national squad athletes as possible. Although it is scientifically well documented how important nutrition is, especially in elite sport, this area has been neglected to date," explains Prof. Dr. Anja Carlsohn, project manager and Professor of Nutritional Sciences at HAW Hamburg.
Specifically, the scientists want to integrate a validated screening sheet for nutrition-related health risks and a consumption protocol into software that is already established in elite sport. This will make the documents directly available to state and national squad athletes in an app. "We assume that an app that can be used on a smartphone or tablet will be more attractive and practical for young athletes than the handwritten questionnaires or log sheets that have been used up to now," says Anja Carlsohn.
Initial data collection with around 200 athletes is set to begin in September 2024. Until then, athletes will be recruited for the study in close cooperation with the practice partners. Including their perspective is particularly important to the project partners. After all, the tools and methods developed should not only be theoretically sound, but also suitable for practical use. Prof. Dr. Juliane Heydenreich, project manager and Professor of Experimental Sports Nutrition at Leipzig University: "Our aim is to discuss the challenges together and develop long-term strategies to establish the tools developed in the project in sports practice in the long term." Prof. Dr. Carlsohn adds: "Through continuous exchange with our practice partners, we are confident that we will develop innovative and practical solutions that will take nutritional support in competitive sports to a new level."
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
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