Analysis of foods habits in squash players

Abstract

Background: Squash is one of the four most popular racquet sports, practiced by 20 million people worldwide. It is a sport that has been scarcely researched in the area of nutrition, and even less so regarding the dietary habits of its players. The objective of this work is to perform a descriptive and comparative analysis of dietary habits in squash players at the national and international levels. Methodology: A total of 14 international and 28 national players answered a validated food consumption frequency questionnaire. We used a Student´s t-test for independent samples and a χ2 test in the comparative analysis of players of different levels. Results: The results show that there were statistically significant differences between the two groups of players in the consumption of bread (p = 0.016) and nuts (p = 0.008), with a tendency towards statistical significance for eggs (p = 0.064), blue fish (p = 0.057), and white meat (p = 0.069), which the international players consumed with a higher frequency. There were no significant differences in the consumption of fruits, vegetables, or pulses. The two groups had a similar consumption of potatoes, pasta, rice, juices and soft drinks, sweets and snacks, white fish, and red meat. Conclusions: Although it was not possible to estimate the intake and percentage of macronutrients, a possible deficit of carbohydrates and an excess of proteins can be deduced in both groups. In addition, these players do not usually seek advice from dieticians-nutritionists, so the involvement of these professionals in the coaching staff of squash players could improve athletic performance.