Energy balance
Low Energy Availability (LEA) causes Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S), leading to impaired performance, poor bone health, and increased injury risk in both male and female athletes.
Ensure your daily food intake covers both your training energy expenditure and your body's basic health needs. If you are losing weight unintentionally, feeling fatigued, or getting injured often, you may have Low Energy Availability. Consult a sports dietitian to increase energy availability.
Low energy availability (LEA) underpins the Female Athlete Triad syndrome, but new insights over the last decade have identified its occurrence in male Athletes and its impact on a range of body systems and performance factors, beyond bone and menstrual health. Thus, the concept of relative energy deficiency in sport was developed to address this expanded range of concerns...
Why this rating
Consensus statement based on extensive review of health and performance impacts.
Source
International Association of Athletics Federations Consensus Statement 2019: Nutrition for Athletics
Louise M. Burke et al. · International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism · 2019
DOI 10.1123/ijsnem.2019-0065
More from this paper
- Athletes should consume high-quality protein distributed across 4-5 daily meals, targeting 0.3-0.4 g/kg per meal, to optimize muscle protein synthesis and adaptation to training.Good
- For events lasting longer than 90 minutes, consuming 30-90 g/hour of carbohydrates during the event improves performance by maintaining exogenous fuel supply as endogenous stores dwindle.Good
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