The Reasons High Vitamin Diets Are Important In Sports Nutrition

One of the most important aspects when taking part in sport is to ensure that your body gets the required nutrition. There are a wide range of nutrients that need to be part of a regular diet in order to stay fit and healthy.

Being able to keep a balanced diet will enable the athlete to provide the body with the correct amounts of fat, vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, dietary fiber and water.

Without question the most necessary nutrient for any form of sport or physical activity is energy. The main fuels that are used by the body when the muscles are being exercised are fats and carbohydrates. Another important element to keep the right nutrition are ensuring that the right intake of minerals and vitamins are in the diet to help the energy metabolism. It has been proven that a diet that is lacking in vitamins and minerals will adversely affect sporting performance.

The key factors of keeping a high vitamin diet

In order to obtain vitamins and minerals, athletes need to eat a wide assortment of nutrient-dense foods in amounts that will maintain energy balance. This means that a person must consume 1,200 to1,500 kilo-calories a day.

Meeting vitamin and mineral requirements when energy intake is 3,000 kcal/day or higher (as is among male and female ice hockey and cross country skiers) is actually easy. Even athletes whose energy intakes may be about 2,000 kcal/day can meet their vitamin and mineral needs from food alone.

As long as a wide variety of foods are eaten, vitamin and mineral intake is adequate. Supplementation therefore is not necessary.

Fruit and vegetables are food that are very high in vitamins. They are also good in providing antioxidant sources. A fact to remember is that high color food choices will always equate to high vitamin content which in turn means high energy storage. Always be on the look out for red, blue, deep green, yellow/orange colors in your food choice. The recommended dosage for athletes would be anywhere between five to nine vegetable or fruit servings a day. Another good sources of vitamins and minerals would be grain.

One of the most common questions asked, "is more better"?

Athletes usually meet two-thirds or more of the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for vitamins and minerals. Athletes who have high calorie intakes of about 5,000 to 6,000 kcal/day may achieve 200% or more of the RDA for some vitamins and minerals just from foods they eat.

Despite this fact, most of the athletes who are concerned with sports nutrition take supplements to boost performance. While vitamin and mineral deficiencies impair physical performance, research indicates that supplementation of a nutritionally adequate sports diet does not improve physical work capacity, endurance, oxygen consumption, cardiovascular function, muscle strength, or resistance to fatigue.

For example, because B-vitamins release energy from nutrients, athletes with high energy expenditures have increased requirements for B-vitamins. However, eating more food provides the needed extra B-vitamins.

When are vitamin supplements needed?

Vitamin supplements are commonly used if an athlete’s diet is not enough for his energy requirements. Vitamin supplements provide "health insurance," as sort of back-up to ensure optimal sports nutrition.

Multi-vitamin supplements with no more than 100% of the Daily Value (DV.) provide a safe and adequate balance of vitamins. However, it should not be forgotten that the goal is still to eat a wide variety of foods. Food contains fiber and a multitude of phytochemicals that provide many health benefits.

Supplements should never be replacements for food. While many sports supplements contain the antioxidant beta carotene, at least 450 carotenoids are only found in food. Antioxidant value exists in other carotenoids as well.

Minerals for injury prevention

Minerals like calcium, iron, and zinc are especially important for athletes.

The steps to taking the recommended dosage of calcium are based on the levels that can promote calcium retention, inhibit bone loss and being able to maximize bone mineral density. Athletes who calcium intake isn't what it should be will be more likely picking up injuries such as a stress fracture. The type of foods that supply good calcium stores would be broccoli, juices and cereals, dairy products and fish that contains bones.

Iron makes up hemoglobin, myoglobin and oxidative enzymes and affects oxygen transport and aerobic metabolism. To achieve optimal aerobic endurance, consuming adequate amounts is a must. Iron depletion, the first stage of iron deficiency is the most common type of iron deficiency among athletes. Lean red meats, dark poultry, fortified cereals, whole grains, and legumes are good iron sources.

The mineral zinc which can be found in many foods such a poultry or seafood is a very important part to protein sunthesis, immune function and the healing mechanism in the body. It can also be found in antioxidant enzymes and the enzymes that are responsible for energy metabolism.

An important note to remember, even though minerals are required to work side by side with vitamins to ensure a good blend of sports nutrition it is key to remember that the consumption of minerals on an excessive scale can interfere with the digestive system and the bodies ability to absorb other minerals. This can lead to mineral imbalance. Also, all minerals can be toxic in large doses.

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