Sports Nutrition
Case study:
For this case study, you ideally will need to recruit a healthy adult competitive athlete. This
person can be a recreational sports athlete, college athlete, or other type of active athlete.
Alternatively, you can even use yourself. Note that this is just an academic exercise, so the
person you are working with does not need to follow the program.
Go through Steps 1 to 8 from Unit 17, provided below, and develop nutritional guidelines for your
subject, dependent on the season that he/she is in. Then provide a discussion as to why you
made your recommendations.
Show all calculations that may apply, using the methods in the course textbook related to the
Steps. Make note of the person’s age, gender, sport, and athletic season.
Step 1: Determine body composition.
Step 2: Determine daily caloric expenditure range for training days and non-training days and for
competition days.
Step 3: Define the bioenergetics the sport primarily demands for peak athletic performance;
Athlete- Type; Anaerobic – Immediate Energy System; Anaerobic Glycolytic; Anaerobic Glycolytic
– Oxidative Glycolytic; and Oxidative. Some examples of sports are included below.
Step 4: Determine daily protein intake estimate and the foods and supplements to achieve it.
Remember from your lessons that protein requirements can differ among different Athlete-Types
and among individual athletes. This gives a scientific reason for making protein intake a priority
for sports nutrition programs, in addition to other factors.
Step 5: Determine daily carbohydrate estimate and the foods and supplements to achieve it.
Remember to plan for carbohydrate beverage intake before, during, and after practice and for
sport events as appropriate. Modulate carbohydrate type and amount with meals and snacks to
meet specific nutrition goals.
Step 6: Determine fat (essential fatty acids) intake estimate and plan, and select foods and
cooking methods to achieve it. Keeping fat intake under 30 percent of total daily calories will be
an ongoing skill to master. For certain sports, maintaining low fat intake during the season—
between 15 and 20 percent of total daily calories—can be challenging and requires extra effort to
make sure athletes are ingesting adequate amounts of the essential fatty acids: linoleic and
alpha-linolenic acids. Add healthy sources of essential fatty acids in addition to EPA and DHA as
required for health.
Step 7: Maintain proper fluid intake estimate to meet daily requirements, as determined by
amount of physical activity, environmental factors, and specific athletic training, performance,
and health needs.
Step 8: Determine the needs for using special sports nutrition and dietary supplement products.