DOES A PLANT-BASED DIET EFFECT SPORTS PERFORMANCE PHYSICALLY AND PHYSIOLOGICALLY?
Results
Descriptive Data
The participants constituted 15 males (75%) and 5 females (25%). The mean age of the study participants was 22.19 ± 2.76years, while the mean age for the males was 21.33 ± 2.09. The females, however, have a mean age of 22.76 ± 2.99. From a total of the 20 study participants who took part in the study, the men and women were distributed equally, as shown in table 1. The study participants who demonstrated a positive attitude towards dietary intake were 14 out of the 20, which translated to 70% of the study participants. These participants were also shown to exhibit greater sports performance compared to their counterparts who had a negative attitude towards diet.
Table 1: Exercise Capacity and Gender Distribution of the Participants
| Gender | Heart Rate performance | Number | P-value |
| Males | 159.91 | 15 | 0.937 |
| Females | 156.3 | 5 | 0.937 |
The questionnaires also targeted the participants’ nutritional knowledge on the importance of an adequate diet on their sports performance. The standard deviations, knowledge scores and the results for the t-test have been shown in table 2. These results have been presented depending on the variables of gender and nutritional lessons.
Table 2: Students’ Mean Nutrition Knowledge Scores according to the Variables
| Variables | n | X⎯⎯⎯⎯ | SD | df | t | p |
| Gender | ||||||
| Female | 5 | 11.985 | 3.446 | 341 | 1.035 | 0.124. |
| Male | 15 | 12.420 | 3.263 | |||
| Total | 20 | 12.247 | 3.659 | |||
*p < 0.001
From the results in table 2, the mean knowledge of the students on nutrition was found to be 2.247 ± 3.525 from the general sample. The males were, however, shown to attain a higher score on nutritional knowledge compared to the females. The difference in knowledge of nutrition between the females and the males was statistically significant (p=0.000), thus suggesting the males’ adequate knowledge on the importance of nutrition in sports.
Discussion
Diet and nutrition play important roles in the sport performance of individuals (Barnard et al., 2019). Moreover, Beck et al. (2015) recommend the intake of proper nutrition for improved sports performance. Most individuals participating in sporting activities upon intake of a healthy nutritional diet have demonstrated improved performance when compared to those who didn’t (Thomas et al., 2017).) According to Ezzati and Ribolli (2013), a healthy diet was shown to cause a reduction in non-communicable diseases which improved the physical health of individuals. Esposito et al. (2017) hold that about 30% of individuals are at a reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes upon intake of a plant-based diet. These assertions affirm that the intake of an adequate plant diet can improve the physical fitness of the body and improve the performance in sports. The latter correlates to the high performance, which was depicted in individuals who demonstrated a better understanding and attitudes towards a healthy dietary intake in this study.
There is a significant reduction in cardiovascular disease development upon the intake of a plant-based diet from the findings obtained from several studies (Barnard et al., 2019; Tuso et al. 2013; Dinu et al., 2017). Moreover, Loucks et al., 2011) noted that the physiological performance of athletes was influenced by the nature of dietary intake. These findings correlated with the research done by Haghighatdoost et al. (2017) which highlighted the role of vegetarian diet with inflammatory markers for improved sports performance. The findings in the current indicated that a proper intake of the nutritional diet of plant origin resulted in an overall improved sports performance among study participants who demonstrated a positive attitude towards the plant-based dietary intake.
References
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Ezzati, M. & Riboli, E., 2013. Behavioural and Dietary Risk Factors for Non-communicable Diseases. The New England Journal of Medicine, 369(10), pp. 954-965.
Esposito, K. et al., 2017. Mediterranean diet for type 2 diabetes: cardiometabolic benefits. Endocrine, Volume 56, pp. 27-32.
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Thomas, D., Erdman, K. & Burke, L., 2017. American College of Sports Medicine Joint Position Statement. Nutrition and Athletic Performance. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 48(3), pp. 543-568.
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