Explanation of the relationship between adolescent athletes' nutritional habits and eating disorders

In the adolescent period, nutrition plays a crucial and significant role in the development of an individual's skeletal-muscular system, cardiorespiratory fitness, neurodevelopment, and immune strength. This study aimed to analyze the eating habits of adolescent athletes and determine the fear of eating disorders. A survey consisting of 5 sections was administered to 135 adolescent athletes, collected through an online survey system and statistically evaluated. The results indicated that the age, height, and weight of adolescent soccer players were within the healthy range for adolescents, and no eating disorders were observed. Even though there is no significant relationship between adolescent football players and the fears of eating disorders scale, the fear of social consequences subscale scores of the fears of eating disorders scale show a statistically significant difference according to meal skipping (p = 0.006<0.05). These findings suggest that participants who fear judgment, mockery, or criticism for gaining weight are more inclined to skip meals. To enhance reliability, repeating the study with face-to-face surveys could provide clearer observations regarding eating disorders in soccer players.