Energy balance
Female elite football players frequently exhibit low energy availability (EA <30 kcal/kg FFM/day) due to insufficient energy intake relative to expenditure, leading to hormonal disturbances, menstrual dysfunction, and increased risk of stress fractures.
Elite female footballers should monitor their energy intake to ensure it matches their high training loads. If energy availability drops below 30 kcal/kg of fat-free mass per day, it can disrupt hormones and increase injury risk. Focus on consuming enough calories, particularly carbohydrates, to support recovery and hormonal health rather than restricting intake.
a considerable proportion of female elite football players does not have sufficient energy intake to match the energy expenditure, resulting in low energy availability that might have detrimental physiologic consequences and impair performance.
Why this rating
Based on a review of multiple observational studies showing consistent trends of low EA in elite female footballers.
Source
Nutritional optimization for female elite football players—topical review
Maysa Vieira de Sousa et al. · Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports · 2021
DOI 10.1111/sms.14102
More from this paper
- Female elite football players should consume carbohydrates in the range of 7-10 g/kg body weight per day to optimize glycogen stores, with adjustments based on training load.Good
- Protein intake for female elite football players should be optimized at 1.2-1.4 g/kg body weight per day, focusing on quality and distribution (e.g., 0.3 g/kg per meal) rather than supplementation.Good
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