Evaluation of the relationship between the nutritional knowledge level, match period energy intake and body compositions of youth football players

Nutrition is an important part of sports performance for adolescent athletes, as well as ensuring optimal growth and development. Appropriate amounts of macronutrients, micronutrients, and fluids are necessary to provide energy for growth and activity. To optimize performance, adolescent athletes need to learn what, when, and how to eat and drink before, during, and after activity. Nutrition for athletes should include the application of nutritional knowledge into a practical nutritional plan that will ensure adequate energy supply adapted to physical activity, the occurrence of recovery processes in the body, improvement of sports performance and proper health and well-being. The research consists of a total of 68 youth football players from U15, U16, U17, U19 teams, 17 in each group. The average of "Age (years)" of the individuals participating in the research is 15.75±1.49, the average of "Height (cm)" is 176.01±7.07, the average of "Body Weight (kg)" is 67.09±7.56, The average of "Fat (%)" is 13.15±3.06, the average of "Muscle (g)" is 54.18±4.44, the average of "BMI for Age" is 21.59±1.58 and the average for "Height for Age" is It was found to be 63.40±27.18. As expected, it was observed that the average muscle (g) increased as the average age increased. The current study, similar to the previous studies, did not meet the recommended intake (6-8g/kg) on the pre-match day and post-match day.The study met the recommended pre-match carbohydrate intake (1-4 g/kg), similar to other studies. The current study met the protein intake recommendations of the American College of Sports Medicine, similar to previous studies. According to the nutritional knowledge levels of the individuals participating in the research, it was found that 36.8% (25 people) were at low level, 42.6% (29 people) were at medium level and 20.6% (14 people) were at high level. It is thought that there is a need to contribute to the literature by conducting studies to determine the nutritional status and knowledge levels of athletes in different disciplines and to emphasize the importance of their positive contributions to sports.