Published Paper Details:

The awareness of nutrition playing an important role for sportspersons and athletes. Many factors can impact the performance of a sports person during competition which may be related to different domains. The most commonly encountered nutritional related problem among sports person is their failure to consume sufficient total of food energy. Food is composed of six basic substances: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals and water. Each one of these has specific function in providing nourishment for the body. For the sportsman, it is of critical importance to recognise what each does to his body under the physical, mental and emotional strains of competition. The duration and the intensity of the exercise involved in a given sports will determine the principal source of energy used in meeting the work demands of that particular sports. The certain nutrition and dietary approaches to enhance the sports performance and also nutrition is essential for an athletes good performance. The athlete's diet should be high in carbohydrates, moderate in proteins and low in fat. Adolescents taking part in sports have high demands of nutrients due to additional needs of increased physical activity besides growth, development and wellness. The health and nutritional status may be compromised in this population due to lack of proper nutritional counseling. Also misinformation about healthy and nutritious foods by the media targeting school going children can be quite hazardous. The purpose of this review paper is to represent the nutritional needs of adolescents and athletes participating in different games and also to empower and teach adolescents and athletes to know about the importance of nutrition during participation in games and sports.1