Published Paper Details:

The aim of the study was to study the nutritional practices of female football players. The nutritional intake of 24 female football players of Kurukshetra University Kurukshetra was recorded by the players them self for a period of one week. Participants were provided with written and verbal guidelines for the completion of the diaries. During this one week period the training imparted to the players were also recorded. This was used in combination with BMR predictions to calculate daily energy expenditure. Results suggest that energy intake was low (1735 � 250.4 kcal) in relation to previous recommendations for football players. Energy expenditure (1915.6 � 410.4 kcal) was not significantly different (p > 0.05) from intake, suggesting energy balance was achieved. Carbohydrate (47.6 � 5.4%), protein (12.6 � 1.9%) and fat (22.7 � 5.4%) intakes were in line with recommendations. Fluid intake (2150 � 847.7 ml per day) was sufficient to meet baseline recommendations, but would need to be higher to meet the additional requirement of training and competition. With the exception of vitamin A and iron, all micronutrient intakes were higher than the DRI. With the help of this study it is recommended that female football players should increase the intake carbohydrate and take more fluid and ensure sufficient iron rich foods to meet out the required intake volume.