Factors influencing ultra-endurance athletes’ food choices: an adapted food choice questionnaire During endurance training and competition, insufficient nutrient supply was reported. Although insufficient nutritional knowledge can contribute to inappropriate nutritional decisions, the relationship between these variables is often weak. Therefore, this study examined the importance of a series of factors for the selection of food for extreme dormant sports enthusiasts. An existing questionnaire for the selection of food has been expanded to consider the most important factors that have been suggested to influence the food selection of these athletes. The questionnaire was tested in a pilot experiment with endurance athletes. During this period, he was refined and re-evaluated in terms of internal consistency and test retest reliability. Subsequently, 101 experienced extreme endurance athletes filled out the changed questionnaire. The athletes also documented restrictions on nutrition or strategies that were used to prepare for the competition. The factors classified by the majority of athletes were “supplies me with energy,” “do not cause gastrointestinal complaints” and “are nutritious”. Despite the high importance of energy supply, only 38.2% of the participants stated that they had prepared for a carbohydrate diet preparing for competition. Considering the fact that nutritious foods typically have a high amount of fiber, it is likely that this factor is conflicting with avoiding gastrointestinal discomfort.
The possible incompatibility of these factors can help explain the observed suboptimal food intake. The very interesting article can be found under https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30318911/