Evaluation of Nutritional Behaviors of Taekwondo Athletes

This study was conducted to evaluate the nutritional behavior of taekwondo athletes. The research group consisted of a total of 919 athletes (340 female, 579 male) from different ages in the taekwondo branch in Turkey. A questionnaire consisting of 30 questions was applied to evaluate athletes’ eating habits and SPSS 15.0 program was used for statistical analysis of the data. Arithmetic mean, and frequency values of the obtained data were calculated. The average age of participants and age of sport were respectively; 17,79±3,55; 6,55±3,52 years. While 47% of participants did not make any changes in their pre-training meals, 19,8% were eating mainly protein based, during training (68,2%) were consuming plenty of water and as for post-training, (60,4%) were mostly eating normal meals, (19.6%) were drinking plenty of water and eat fruit (10,4). The foods most believed to increase performance were honey, pekmez, jam (51,6%), milk and dairy products (26,7%), meat and meat products (10,2), pasta, bulgur, rice (8,7%). It was determined that 24.2% of participants used a product in order to improve performance and that the products consumed were determined as mostly energy drinks (47,3%) and vitamin-mineral supplements (18,5%). 82,6% of the athletes believed that nutrition in sports had an effect on success but 41,6% expressed that they didn't have enough nutrition knowledge. 45,6% of the athletes stated that they learned nutrition knowledge from their trainers and 5,6% from nutrition experts. It was concluded that the nutritional behaviors of athletes in Taekwondo branch included incorrect practices. This is a result of the lack of their knowledge levels regarding sport nutrition. To increase nutrition knowledge and gain correct nutritional behavior, it is thought that they need to be trained by experts in this field