The effect of nutrition education on nutritional knowledge in licensed athletes between 8-18 years of age

The Effect of Nutrition Education on Nutritional Knowledge in Licensed Athletes Between 8-18 Years of Age This study was planned to determine the nutritional knowledge levels of licensed adolescent athletes in 10 different branches and to determine the changes in their knowledge levels after nutrition training. The research was applied to 314 athletes between the ages of 8-18 who are actively doing sports in the branches of athletics, basketball, bocce, boxing, fencing, wrestling, handball, judo, table tennis and volleyball within the body of Adıyaman Youth and Sports Provincial Directorate. Within the scope of the study, the adolescent athletes participating in the study were given training on healthy nutrition and sports nutrition for one hour a week for a moth. Before the training, a questionnaire was applied to the adolescent athletes who participated in the study and to measure their nutritional knowledge levels. After the training, the part of the questionnaire measuring the nutritional knowledge level was applied again and the levels before and after the training were compared. 63.7% of the adolescent athletes participating in the study are male and their average age is 12.46 ± 2.41 years. The median knowledge points of the athletes before the training were calculated as 36 (30-45), and their knowledge points after the training as 45 (37-49) (p <0.001). Considering the knowledge levels of athletes about the carbohydrate levels of some foods, it was seen that there was an increase in all answers given after the training compared to the answers given before the training (p <0.001). There was an increase in the answers given after the training regarding the protein levels of most foods in the questionnaire compared to the answers given before the training (p <0.001). Considering the knowledge level of the athletes about fat levels in some foods, there was an increase in the answers given after the training compared to the answers given before the training (p <0.05 for pistachio, p <0.001 for other foods). In most of the other questions about nutritional knowledge, there was an increase in the answers given after the training compared to the answers given before the training (p <0.001). As a result of this study, it was determined that nutrition training given one hour each week for one month would significantly increase nutritional knowledge levels of adolescent athletes. Keywords: Sports Nutrition, Nutrition Education, Nutrition Knowledge, Licensed Sportsman