High School Health Classes of a series of Awkward Lessons About Stds, Drugs, and Alcohol. Rarely do these classes teach students Anything About Another Critical Component of their health – Nutrition.

This Lack of Nutrition Education is Especially Dangerous to Student Athletes Who Need to Fuel Their Bodies Properly to Protect Themselveslves from Injury and Other Health Risks.

A new study shows that high school athletes have some service in both their general and sport-specific nutrition knowledge.

This work was Published in NutrientsJennifer B. FILDS, Assistant Professor of Nutritional Science in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources, Collaborated With Researcres at the University of Wisconsin and GEORGE UNISITES Udy.

Fields and her collaborators have known that Young Athletes Struggle with Proper Nutrition to Fuel their highly active body.

“There’s this preconceived notion that all athletes are healthy,” Fields say. “A lot of times that’s not the case.”

The researchers previously found a high prevalence of eating disorders and other forms of disordered eating in college athletes, often linked to a Lack of Nutrition knowledge.

Student Athletes often Turn to Unscientific Outlets, Like Social Media, for Nutrition Information in the Absence of Formal Education.

Given this, the team if the interested in seeing if similar patterns existed for high school athletes.

They used a pre-validated survey, the abridged sports nutrition knowledge questionnaire, to assess students athletes’ nutrition knowledge. Forty-after students were recruited from high schools in wiconsin and beyond. The students’ total nutrition score averaged Around 45% for Both Boys and Girls. Their general nutrition knowledge was about 58% and sport nutrition knowledge was about 35%.

The students’ perceptions about the daily recommended intake of key nutrients was significantly off base. They thought needed fewer carbohydrates and total calories, and far more protein and fat than is actually recommended.

The students also demonstrated a lacked of knowledge about when and what to take to support sport performance.

“Their Level of General Nutrition Knowledge and Sport Nutrition Knowledge was very, very low,” Fields Says. “They Didn’t Know How to Eat a Balanced Diet for their Overall Health.

Many students are reported that their primary source for nutrition knowledge was friends or family, followed closely by their coaches, who do not general receively on formal Nutrition Training or Edues.

Fields say many of these knowledge gaps may be fuled by social media that pumps out inacurate nutrition information and unrealistic body standards for young people, Especia.

“Adolescents in Particular Are Just Inundated With Social Media,” Fields Says. “High Schoolers are on Instagram, Tiktok, WHATEVER It May Be, Getting preconceived notions about how their bodies should look, how they should eat, and how they should exercise exercise. How they should be fueling as an Athlete. “

One of the key differences between sports and regular nutrition is athletes’ calories and carbohydrate needs. Athletes should be consuming more than half their daily calories as carbohydrates, fields say.

“Carbohydrates are athletes’ best friends,” Fields say. “That is so contradictory to what a lot of social media tells us.”

Athletes also, generally, should follow the trend of intermittent fasting diets as they need to be fueling consistent ES.

Athletes need to have more muscle mass to support their own safety as well, meaning

The next step for this research will be to develop an Educational International for High School Athletes to Empower Them With the Knowledge They Need to make healthy choices.

“One of our biggest takes is simply the need for more general nutrition education and sports-specific nutrition education for these adolescent athletes,” Fields Says. “If we can change the behavioors throwing