Being an athlete up until college, nutrition has always played a factor in my life, especially in high school when I was an active athlete on the track and field team. After high school, I got very interested in working out at the gym and started strength training. This interest has lead pursue a career in sports nutrition.
After reading the article, “Recent Advances in Sports Nutrition,” by L.L Spriet, I learned much more about the topic. Sports nutrition is expanding everyday, which is why I believe it is important to have knowledgeable registered dietitian nutritionist so they can help this area to further progress the importance of it.
The article goes above and beyond describing what athletes should eat pre and post workout. It discusses new findings, such as the importance of nutrition for the brain in training and competitions. I thought this was really interesting because I never thought of sports nutrition and the brain. When someone says sports nutrition, people usually think of the words, “athletes, “protein,” “carbs,” “muscles,” etc. Although the article doesn’t go into much detail about how the brain affects performance, I plan to do further research on the topic.
Furthermore, the article discusses how adaptions in the body improve performance. I enjoyed specific it analyzed the body such as discussing protein synthesis. I enjoyed this because I could relate the information I’ve learned in previous science courses to what the article was talking about. I thought this was also interesting because I always thought to myself sitting in chemistry, organic chemistry, and biochemistry when would I ever need to use this information in the real world as a dietitian? Now that I am getting more engaged with my passion for sports nutrition, I am able to use my knowledge that I have learned from all those courses.
I thought the most captivating line in the article was, “One thing that is very clear is the variability that exists between athletes in almost everything we study.” I thought this because it emphasizes on how so much information needs to be gathered on athletes to provide proper recommendations on how they can improve their performances. Sports nutrition isn’t just about what to eat before and after a workout. People who intend to work in this field need to be well informed of how the body works but also keep in mind that all athletes are different.
Lastly, my favorite part about the article was how it leaves the reader wondering. It discusses new findings in sports nutrition and how expanding the field is, but it also mentions ideas that are not yet solved. For example, “If an athlete is well-trained, has a sound nutrition plan, sleeps well, and is healthy, can nutritional supplements such as dietary nitrate or polyphenols help with training, competitions or recovery?” This may be a study that people are conducting right now, but overall the article was an interesting read and advises me to do more research on some of the topics discussed.
http://link.springer.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/article/10.1007/s40279-014-0170-1/fulltext.html