Sports Nutrition Proposal Contemporary Sports

Sports Nutrition Proposal

Contemporary sports nutrition consumers not only include bodybuilders and hardcore athletes, but also "weekend warriors," and soccer moms, according to Pete Maletto (2008), senior food scientist. "Nutrition Business Journal (NBJ), Boulder, CO, estimates that the $22 billion sports nutrition industry will experience sales growth of more than 5% a year over the next five years and approach $29 billion by 2013" (¶ 2). Maletto (2008) reports that approximately 20 years ago, protein powders, weight gain supplements, and amino acid tablets ranked as the most popular products sports nutrition enthusiasts were things like weight gainers and protein powders, and maybe for the really cutting-edge folks, amino acid tablets. Today, total nutrition sales, which include health foods, vitamins, and numerous related products, reportedly exceed $90 billion annually. Sports nutrition, however, encompasses more than food and supplements, Tracy R. Ray, and Rachel Fowler. (2004) point out in "Current issues in sports nutrition in athletes." The sports nutrition "field" also spotlights "the energy, nutrient and fluid needs of athletes, assessment of body composition, strategies for weight change, special nutrient needs during training, competition, and recovery, and the use of supplements and nutritional ergogenic aids" (Ray, & Rachel, 2004 Fowler, ¶ 1).

In light of current considerations relating to sports nutrition, the researcher proposes to explore this "field."

Hypothesis: When an athlete or other individual increases his/her knowledge about sports nutrition, then he/she will simultaneously begin to improve his/her physical potential.

Health Campaign: Athletes and other individuals who need to improve their physical potential need coaches, trainers, and mentors knowledgeable about sports nutrition. These coaches, trainers, and mentors need to teach, train, and target appropriate information toward helping those they coach, train and mentor.

Additional points from the five articles used for the above one page synopsis:

Greg Shaw, Greg Cox, and Janelle Barnard (2007) report in "Sports nutrition: case studies 2":

Keeping pace with daily fuel requirements to sustain quality exercise, while creating an energy surplus to allow for muscle mass gain is a major challenge for most athletes. (Answers section, ¶ 1)

The article "Sports nutrition vital for athletes" (2005) stresses: "Most athletes do not consider sports nutrition as part of their training."

In "Definition and Outcome of a Curriculum to Prevent Disordered Eating and Body-Shaping Drug Use." Diane L. Elliot, Esther L. Moe, Linn Goldberg, Carol a. DeFrancesco, Melissa B. Durham, and Hollie Hix-Small purport: "Coaches have been referred to as the missing link in health promotion, as their contact with student athletes is estimated at 150 to 200 hours during a sports season."

Mark J. Tallon, PhD, is chief science officer of NutriSciences, a London-based consultancy firm specialising in health-claim substantiation, product development and technical writing, states: "A study conducted by AC Nielsen in the UK in 2006 reported that 60 per cent of consumers preferred to get health benefits not from fortified foods, but from foods that are as natural as possible."