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The following article was published in our article directory on March 19, 2014.
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Sports Nutrition: Zeroing in On Athletic Needs

Article Category: Wellness, Fitness and Diet

Author Name: James Spann

Sports nutrition deals with nutrition and diet as it relates to athletic needs. It deals with identifying the quantity and quality of food and fluids that an athlete must take to perform at his best. Striking a balance between food, fluids and supplements is most specially important for endurance (marathon runners who run for miles on end) and strength (weight lifters and gymnasts) athletes as these would determine one's capabilities to perform. Sports nutrition can therefore be described as targetted nutrition.

Sports nutrition takes a very strict stance when it comes to food for athletes. Food and fluid intake should be rigidly checked or else dehydration or depletion of nutrients may occur. Supplement intake should likewise be checked as the body can take only so much and one may suffer negative consequences if taken in excess.

Most athletes resort to taking dietary supplements to increase performance. Unfortunately, some go to the extreme and use anabolic steroids (an illegal substance) related to the production of testosterone, a hormone which can quickly build muscle and strength. A number of Olympians have been stripped of their medals as soon as they have been verified to taking these steroids.

Steroid use has been linked to increases in blood pressure. Also, the use of anabolic steroids result to early skeletal maturation so that further growth is stunted. There are the gender specific side effects as well:

For men: shrinking of the testicles, lowered sperm count, infertility, baldness, development of breasts and increased risk of prostate cancer

For women: facial hair, male-like baldness, changes in or cessation of menstrual cycle, and a permanently deepened voice

Steroid users, like many users of other regulated drugs, experience a certain high when they take these steroids. However, ingesting steroids may lead to mood swings and manic-like symptoms which may lead to violence, the reason being the drug works on that part of the brain called the limbic system, which regulates mood.

Dietary protein should be taken by the athletes before, during and after the physical activity as it was seen to be advantageous in building muscle mass and strength. Care must be taken however when taking dietary protein as too much protein and amino acid supplements can do more harm than good. Too much protein intake can lead to dehydration, gout, calcium loss and renal and liver damage. Gastrointestinal side effects could be diarrhea or bloating.

High energy supplements when drank, increases performance of the activities even though there was no change in perceived exertion.

Caffeine found in energy drinks also promote short time/rapid performance exercises. Thus, energy drinks with caffeine help with increasing good feeling of energy, focus and alertness when doing speed sprints and heavy power weight lifting.

Post exercise nutrition should also be given more attention as this would pertain to recovery. Although power drinks rehydrate the body after exercise, energy drinks do not have protein which are the building blocks of the body.

In 2008, studies have named skim milk and chocolate milk as the new energy drinks. Milk leads to protein synthesis which boosts net muscle protein balance. Milk too has electrolytes so, that as a post-exercise recovery beverage, it is better in helping rehydrate water lost through perspiration and maintaining normal levels of fluid in the body.

Sports Nutrition in the United States

In the past years, the market niche that sports nutrition manufacturers have looked into are the bodybuilders and those that engage in extreme sports. However, growing consumer awareness has made sports nutrition within reach of even the average athlete. The movement of demand from the original consumers to mainstream has greatly increased demand for sports nutrition so that the industry has now grown into a staggering $6.0 B industry. And as manufacturers are seeing the growth potential, they are open to expanding their operations to the vegan and vegetarian markets. This explains the proliferation in the market of protein RTD (Ready To Drink), bars and powder drinks for shakes.

Even though sports nutrition is just within reach of the mainstream, the average exerciser should still consult a medical practitioner with regard ingestion and drinking of sports nutrition supplements. As these supplements have been originally manufactured for those expending much energy in their own sports, the John Does may be at risk if they just take anything over the counter without doctor's advice. One cannot really determine one's body limits unless something out of the ordinary has happened and it might be too late to reverse.

Keywords: fitness routines, fitness, sports nutrition, weight loss, health, well-being, diet

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