Knowledge, Attitude and Practices with respect to Sports Nutrition of Elite Cricketers from India and Impact Evaluation of Nutrition Education Module

Abstract Purpose Basic sport-specific nutrition knowledge of an athlete can result in better nutrition-based choices. Therefore, it is imperative to explore the existing knowledge, practices and attitude of athletes toward Sports Nutrition and address the gaps if any. Methods The study was conducted on elite cricketers (n=81; 54 males, 27 females) from urban Vadodara, India. The existing knowledge, attitude and practices of the athletes w.r.t sports nutrition were recorded by administering a semi-structured questionnaire. Based on the identified gaps, a nutrition education booklet was developed and distributed to the participants which was followed by daily reinforcement of the key messages for 21 days. The impact evaluation of the intervention was assessed after a washout period of 2 months. Results Over 89.3% of the respondents indicated that nutrition support is critical in their sport and over 86.7% believed that a nutritionist should be a member of the sports professionals' team. Only about 21% of the participants consumed solid foods within the recommended period of 30 minutes after the match, which is the window of recovery. In all the squads the post-intervention knowledge scores improved compared to the pre-intervention scores (p=0.000). All the participants consumed some or the other form of supplements; Sports drinks were consumed by 96% of the participants, protein by 44% and BCAA by 3%. Conclusion The key knowledge deficit areas of the cricketers at the baseline showed significant improvement post-intervention across all the 3 squads thus emphasising the need and benefit of nutrition education for athletes.