Introduction
This week we look at the ever persistent challenge of educating golfers on better nutrition and hydration. Whilst there is much scientific evidence that tells us the benefit of good hydration and nutrition to golf performance – largely through better concentration and sustained consistency of energy levels. But how many golfers are aware of it? Or perhaps more importantly, how many act on it? This week, we look at a study on 430 club and university level athletes from various sports, including golf, that assessed their hydration status and surveyed their knowledge on nutrition. The findings were actually worse than I expected!
Article Title
High Prevalence of Dehydration and Inadequate Nutritional Knowledge Among University and Club Level Athletes, Pamela J. Magee, Alison M. Gallagher, Jacqueline M. McCormack. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, October 2016.
Background
Although dehydration of ≥2% body weight (BW) loss significantly impairs endurance performance, dehydration remains prevalent among athletes and may be owing to a lack of knowledge in relation to fluid requirements. The aim of this study was to assess the hydration status of university/club level athletes (n=430) from a range of sports/activities (army officer cadet training; bootcamp training; cycling; Gaelic Athletic Association camogie, football and hurling; golf; hockey; netball; rugby; running (sprinting and endurance); Shotokan karate and soccer) immediately before and after training/competition and to assess their nutritional knowledge. Urine specific gravity (USG) was measured immediately before and after exercise and BW loss during exercise was assessed. Nutritional knowledge was assessed using a validated questionnaire.
Conclusion
The summary of findings is as follows: 31.9% of athletes commenced exercise in a dehydrated state (USG >1.020) with 43.6% of participants dehydrated post-training/competition. Dehydration was particularly prevalent (>40% of cohort) among karateka, female netball players, army officer cadets, and golfers. Golfers that commenced a competitive 18 hole round dehydrated took a significantly higher number of strokes to complete the round in comparison to their euhydrated counterparts (79.5 ± 2.1 vs. 75.7 ± 3.9 strokes, p = .049). Nutritional knowledge was poor among participants (median total score [IQR]; 52.9% [46.0, 59.8]), albeit athletes who were euhydrated at the start of exercise had a higher overall score in comparison to dehydrated athletes (55.2% vs. 50.6%, p = .001). Findings from the current study, therefore, have significant implications for the education of athletes in relation to their individual fluid requirements around exercise.
So the take home message is that most competitive sports people could gain significant benefits from doing a better job hydrating before, during and after competition. Generally, those who had a better understanding of nutrition also hydrated better. So we need to keep educating the younger folk on good eating. For us older folk, this could mean leading by example! I’m off to have some electrolytes…