Nutritional Status of Female Athletes with Subclinical Eating Disorders

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Abstract

Objective To assess the energy and nutritional status of female athletes with subclinical eating disorders and compare them with that of control subjects and standard norms.

Design Group classification (subclinical eating disorder or control) was based on responses to a health and diet history questionnaire, a battery of self-report eating disorder questionnaires, and an in-depth interview. Energy and nutrient intakes and energy expenditure were determined by means of 7-day weighed food records and 7-day activity logs. Micronutrient status was assessed for iron, zinc, magnesium, vitamin B-12, and folate.

Subjects Twenty-four female athletes with subclinical eating disorders and 24 female control athletes.

Statistical analyses Descriptive statistics were used to analyze demographic data. One-way analysis of variance was used to determine group differences in energy and nutrient intakes, energy balance, and blood values.

Results Groups were similar in age, height, weight, fat-free mass, and body mass index. Mean energy intake was lower in the group with subclinical eating disorders (1,989 kcal/day) than in the control group (2,300 kcal/day; P=.004), whereas mean energy expenditures were similar (2,405 and 2,293 kcal/day, respectively). The group with subclinical eating disorders had significantly (P<.05) lower mean protein and fat intakes compared with the control group; mean micronutrient intakes were not significantly different. Mean status measures for iron, zinc, magnesium, vitamin B-12, and folate were within the normal ranges for both groups and no differences were noted between the groups. A similar number of athletes within each group used vitamin/mineral supplements ≤4 times per week.

Conclusion Although female athletes with subclinical eating disorders had dietary intakes of energy, protein, carbohydrate, and certain micronutrients that were below recommended levels, micronutrient status appeared relatively unaffected, probably due to their use of supplements. J Am Diet Assoc. 1998;98:419-425.

Section snippets

Subject Selection and Classification

Female athletes between the ages of 18 and 36 years were recruited from a variety of endurance and aesthetic sports, including distance running, swimming, cycling, basketball, bodybuilding, tennis, and triathlons. For this study, an athlete was defined as one who currently or previously competed in a sport and currently trained a minimum of 6 hours/week. Approximately 84% of the athletes were currently competing at the local or national level.

Subjects were initially screened for subclinical

Results

The subjects represented 9 different sports. Thirty-six of the subjects (75%) participated in endurance sports (eg, running, triathlons, cycling, swimming, basketball, tennis) and 12 (25%) participated in more aesthetic sports (eg, dancing and bodybuilding). No significant differences between the groups were found for any of the demographic or anthropometric variables examined (see Table 1).

Discussion

The primary purpose of this study was to compare the energy and nutritional status of female athletes with subclinical eating disorders with that of control athletes and standard norms. Our results indicated that female athletes with subclinical eating disorders had intakes of energy, protein, carbohydrate, and certain micronutrients that were below recommended levels and in many cases were significantly lower than intakes of control athletes. Nonetheless, the low dietary intakes of the

Applications

Although none of the athletes with subclinical eating disorders demonstrated frank nutritional deficiencies, many had inadequate intakes of energy, carbohydrate, protein, calcium, zinc, iron, and magnesium. At the present time, the long-term effects of such low nutrient intakes combined with high levels of physical activity are unknown. However, research does suggest that the potential health consequences could be numerous and may include chronic fatigue, compromised immune function, poor or

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