I’ve just read a new study looking at the nutritional state of professional football players in the UK. I purposely used the word state, because that word accurately sums up the situation.
The study looked at the dietary practices of 10 players over a 7 day period during the competitive period of the year.
The researchers concluded that the players had excesses in all macronutrients (carbohydrates, protein, and lipids (fats)) and barring fibre, had adequate intakes in all micronutrients that were included in the analysis. I beg to differ.
Let’s look at a few of the points in a bit more detail.
The authors suggest that to provide energy for competition the players should increase their carbohydrate intake and lower their fat intake to bring their carbohydrate percentage up to 60-70 percent of their total energy intake. This would take their (mean) carbohydrate consumption up from 393 grams up to 421-491 grams per day. If I was working with the average player at this club, I would have set their carbohydrate intake to 387.5g give or take, so as far as overall ‘quantity’ the players seem to be on the money as it stands. Timing and quality of these Carbohydrates are where the issues lay, which I guarantee the players don’t have down.
For the players to be eating this much Carbohydrate and still not be hitting adequate fibre or in my opinion micronutrient intakes suggests that their choices of carbohydrate are somewhat out of whack, more on this in a bit.
Timing of Carbohydrate is a whole other story, that, would take up far to much space here, but again, if they are taking in the amount (which is pretty substantial) of carbohydrate and still not achieving optimal glycogen levels in muscle, then one has to assume they are not getting their timing (and type) of carbohydrate nutrition correct. This may also be indicative again of a micronutrient deficiency, inhibiting the synthesis of glycogen.
Looking at the protein, fat and micronutrient intakes together, it’s obvious to anyone who knows nutrition that these players are getting the majority of there protein intake from red meats. I love red meat, but from a nutritional standpoint it should be a minor item in the diet. Their protein is neither very anabolic/ anti-catabolic and the fatty acid profile steers the body towards lipogenesis (fat accumulation). The total protein is a little low for a sport that is based upon repeated bouts of high intensity efforts.
The micronutrient intake is very telling. As stated with the amount of macronutrients being consumed, the levels of micronutrients should be a lot higher. I only have space to discuss two, but all, micronutrients reported were equally poor. As an example of the faulty nutrition, the sodium to potassium ratio is significant. The sodium intake of the players is over twice that of the RNI (Reference Nutrient Intake), whereas the Potassium is lower than the RNI. Food in its natural state has a ratio of sodium to potassium of 1:7, processing food reverses this in favour of sodium, resulting in a ratio of 2:1. Looking at the players’ diet, it’s obvious what these sportsmen are living on. I use the term living, I would love to use ‘thriving’, but they are restricting their potential by consciously or unconsciously providing their supercar body with supermarket fuel.
I can’t go into detail about every point, as this short article would turn into a tome. However, I will say this, if the nutritional practices illustrated by this study are indeed a reflection of the entire English Football game, then it’s understandable that we see so much inconsistent, underachieving performances that are prone to breaking under stress. These players have undeniable talent, which we often see in flashes of brilliance, but due to their woefully inadequate nutrition, these brilliant moments are erratic in their frequency.
We do have the talent in this country to be dominant on the world stage, but there are factors present in the current set-up that are not conducive to achieve this potential.
The sports nutrition demonstrated in this study is so far away from the level in many other sports, it’s not only ‘not on the same page’, it’s in another chapter, in another book, written in another language, in another library. I suggest English football starts expanding its reading.
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