Guest: John O’Connor
In this discussion with John & the daveynutrition team we discuss:
- The challenges of working with highly active/athlete adolescents.
- Developing pathways and curriculum for nutrition support in clubs/teams
- Best practices to support youth athletes
What the paper discussed:
This research paper focuses on the nutrition priorities for developing adolescent athletes. Adolescence is a critical period for physical development and the formation of a lifelong relationship with food. It is important to prioritize long-term and sustainable health when providing nutrition advice to young athletes. The paper highlights the complexity of the pathway to elite sports performance and emphasizes that undue emphasis on body composition alone does not dictate success. The changing focus of youth athlete development is discussed, with a recognition of the negative impacts of disordered eating attitudes and behaviors. The responsibility for providing appropriate nutrition support to adolescent athletes is shared among teams, coaches, parents, teachers, and the athletes themselves. The paper also addresses the energy needs of adolescent athletes, including the challenges in estimating individual energy requirements due to variability in training, hormonal changes, and growth during puberty.
Table 1. Estimated Energy intakes and expenditures of young athletes in soccer.
Adapted from Marcus P. Hannon, MSc, Graeme L. Close, PhD, and James P. Morton, PhD Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences (RISES), Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UnitedKingdom
Energy demands of the adolescent athlete
Adolescents have increased energy needs to support growth and development, whilst catering for training and competition demands. Markers of growth and health can help determine if total energy intake is adequate.
It’s important to note how wide the bracket is under the term ‘adolescents’ with this paper defining that as 13 -18 year olds. The energy demands of adolescents, within this range can vary widely due to hormonal and physical development stages. For example, a potentially underdeveloped 13-year-old would have very different nutritional needs compared to a mature 18-year-old. The above table displays the wide range in intake vs need in elite adolescent soccer players with a range of 2,200 – 5,000kcal in expenditure across the age groups. It also shows how prevalent under consuming calories are for these youth athletes. During this period, adolescents undergo significant changes in growth and development, including variations in height, weight, muscle mass, and hormonal fluctuations. These factors directly influence their energy requirements. A 13-year-old who is still in the early stages of puberty may have lower energy needs compared to an 18-year-old who has already reached full physical maturity. The 18-year-old, with a higher level of physical development, may require more energy to support their increased muscle mass and higher activity levels. It is essential to consider these individual differences when developing nutrition plans for adolescents, ensuring that their energy intake aligns with their specific stage of growth and development.
‘Healthy’ doesn’t always mean Fueled
Parents naturally want the best for their highly active child and often focus on providing them with healthy foods. However, it’s important to recognize that well-intentioned efforts can sometimes lead to underfueling, by providing them with insufficient calories for the amount of energy they are expending. While healthy food choices are essential, highly active adolescents have increased energy requirements to support their growth, development, and physical activity. Sometimes, parents may unknowingly provide insufficient energy by limiting certain foods or food groups or emphasising low-calorie options. It’s crucial for parents to strike a balance by ensuring their child receives adequate energy from a variety of nutrient-dense foods, including carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Consulting with a registered dietitian or sports nutritionist can help parents better understand their child’s specific nutritional needs and ensure they are properly fueled for optimal performance and overall well-being.
The importance of collaboration
Aiming to ‘Create a Choir’ as John nicely puts it, where the same message is being communicated across the board as much as possible. Consistency in nutrition information is crucial to avoid conflicting messages that may confuse or misguide young athletes. Key stakeholders, including sporting organisations, coaches, parents, teachers, and nutrition practitioners, play a significant role in shaping the athlete’s nutritional beliefs and behaviors. When these stakeholders deliver consistent messages, it establishes a solid foundation for the athlete’s understanding of good nutrition practices. By aligning their messages, stakeholders can reinforce key principles such as the importance of balanced meals, adequate energy intake, hydration, and the role of macronutrients and micronutrients in supporting performance and overall health. This unified approach ensures that young athletes receive evidence-based nutrition guidance, which fosters their development, performance, and well-being.
Practical Application
Providing appropriate nutrition care is a shared responsibility among coaches, parents, teachers, and athletes themselves. Collaboration and open communication are vital for consistent and evidence-based nutrition support. A great place to start when developing a curriculum or pathway for nutrition support with any club/team is supporting coaches with evidence based, simple and practical information that can help them help the athletes. This can provide the coaches with confidence and clarity in appropriate messages to deliver to the athletes.
Estimating individual energy needs can be challenging due to various factors. It’s important to consider the unique circumstances of each athlete, such as biological age, training variability, growth during puberty, and hormonal changes. It’s important to recognise that a young athlete/highly active adolescent’s energy demands and therefore, eating habits will be very different to their peers who are less active. Athletes are encouraged to adjust eating patterns to reflect daily exercise. Therefore, larger meals and / or extra snacks are required on training days. Heavier training days require more food.
Meal Plan: Planning out balanced meals in advance can prevent young athletes from adopting overly restrictive diets. It is important that your child eats a variety of foods and gets appropriate amounts of fat, adequate-protein, and plenty of complex carbohydrates like whole grains, fruits, and veggies.
Don’t slack on the snacks: Even with a set meal schedule, your active child will need snacks throughout the day. On extra active days, carbohydrate rich snacks like granola bars, cereal or fruit juice can be helpful to support energy demands.
Hydrate: For active kids who struggle to drink enough water, flavored beverages can be a more enjoyable option. Try giving your little athlete fruit-infused water for a naturally sweeter taste. Remember to limit the sports drinks to events that last over an hour and take place during high temperatures and/or humidity.
Recovery is key: Encourage your child to pack their own food in their kit bag before every training session with a carbohydrate rich snack like a granola bar, a water bottle and a source of protein like milk which can help with both hydration and recovery. Smoothies can be a great option for young athletes that struggle with fruit/veg intake. Making smoothies with milk, fruit, spinach and peanut butter can aid post exercise recovery with essential nutrients and energy.
Praise effort, not performance: Those in competitive youth sports tend to receive a lot of praise for performance and physique. This praise can result in pressure to maintain a high level of performance, and cause young athletes to develop disordered eating habits to meet expectations. To prevent this unhealthy behavior, focus on your child’s efforts and invite coaches to do the same.
Food First: In an effort to improve performance, athletes of all ages often turn to dietary supplements such as vitamins and minerals, energy drinks and bars, and protein shakes. However, for most young athletes, a varied diet based on whole foods can supply the energy and nutrients needed to enhance performance. Encourage young athletes to choose food over supplements to gain that competitive edge!
For more information on this, check out our 3 part series on Nutrition for Youth Athletes on our website.
John O’Connor
John is a performance nutritionist, owner of Target Nutrition, head of nutrition with Kerry GAA Senior Men’s team, nutrition consultant with Elevate Performance and lecturer with Sacred Heart University, Dingle.
Instagram: Target Nutrition
References
Marcus P. Hannon, MSc, Graeme L. Close, PhD, and James P. Morton, PhD Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences (RISES), Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Desbrow, B., 2021. Youth athlete development and nutrition. Sports Medicine, 51(Suppl 1), pp.3-12.
