Open AccessNutritional intakes of highly trained adolescent swimmers before, during, and after a national lockdown in the COVID-19 pandemic
Author(s) -
Josh W. Newbury,
Wee Lun Foo,
Matthew Cole,
Adam L. Kelly,
Richard J Chessor,
Albert K. Sparks,
Mark A. Faghy,
Hannah C Gough,
Lewis A. Gough
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0266238
Subject(s) - medicine , covid-19 , zoology , cohort , pandemic , biology , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty)
Strict lockdown measures were introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused mass disruption to adolescent swimmers’ daily routines. To measure how lockdown impacted nutritional practices in this cohort, three-day photograph food diaries were analysed at three time points: before (January), during (April), and after (September) the first UK lockdown. Thirteen swimmers (aged 15 ± 1 years) from a high-performance swimming club submitted satisfactory food diaries at all time points. During lockdown, lower amounts of energy (45.3 ± 9.8 vs. 31.1 ± 7.7 kcal∙kg BM∙day -1 , p 0.05), despite fewer training hours being completed (15.0 ± 1.4 vs. 19.1 ± 2.2 h∙week -1 , p <0.001). These findings highlight the ability of adolescent swimmers to alter their nutrition based on their changing training circumstances when receiving sport nutrition support. However, some individuals displayed signs of suboptimal nutrition during lockdown that were not corrected once training resumed. This warrants future research to develop interactive education workshops that maintain focus and motivation towards optimal nutrition practices in isolated periods away from training.