Teens who participate
in sports have better eating habits than their
peers who do not, a new study shows.
However, the study showed that young women
-- athletes and nonathletes -- don't get enough
calcium fail to meet requirements for iron intake,
Dr. Jillian K. Croll of the Eating Disorders
Institute in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, and
her colleagues report.
Croll and her team also found that junior high
and high school students participating in activities
in which weight is considered important, such
as gymnastics, ice skating and wrestling, had
eating habits that were as good or better than
those of their peers participating in team sports
like soccer and football.
While studies have shown that participants
in weight-related sports often take in fewer
calories and nutrients than they need, "it may
be that youth involved in sports at a less elite
level of athletics, such as the junior high
and high school levels, are able to maintain
better nutrient profiles than athletes involved
at an elite level," Croll and her colleagues
suggest in their report, published in the Journal
of the American Dietetic Association.
The researchers compared eating habits in teens
from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota
who were divided into three groups: 250 participated
regularly in a weight-related sport, 1,465 played
a power team sport, and 858 did not regularly
participate in any sport. All of the study participants
filled out a 221-item questionnaire on their
eating habits.
Girls participating in weight-related sports
ate breakfast, snacks and dinner more frequently
than those who played power team sports or were
not involved in sports, the researchers found.
While sport-involved girls consumed slightly
more calcium than non-athletes, their intake
still fell below the daily requirement of 1,300
mg. All girls could make up the calcium shortfall,
Croll and her team note, with a single serving
of a calcium-rich dairy food. Less than 30 percent
of all girls in the survey got enough iron.
Boys who didn't play sports at all ate breakfast
and lunch less often than sport-involved males.
Male athletes were more likely than their non-athletic
peers to meet recommended daily requirements
for calcium intake. They also consumed more
iron and zinc, although boys in all three groups
got enough of these nutrients.
The findings don't back up concerns that participants
in weight-related sports are at greater risk
of poor nutrition, Croll and her team conclude.
"The positive outcomes typically associated
with adolescent sport participation, such as
increased self-esteem and emotional well-being,
may extend to improved eating habits and nutritional
intake as compared with non-sport involved peers."
SOURCE; Journal of the American Dietetic Association,
May 2006.
