title: Nutritional intake and anthropometric changes of professional road cyclists during a 4-day competition.
abstract: Appropriate nutrition through adequate dietary intake of total calories, macronutrients, and micronutrients is an essential component of optimizing the performance of all elite athletes. The aim of this study was to describe the food intake, body composition, and biochemical profile of professional cyclists during the Tour of Andalusia, a four-stage race covering a total distance of 647.6 km. Nutritional data were collected by trained investigators who weighed all of the food and fluid ingested by the cyclists. The nutritional intake of the cyclists was as follows: CHO, 12.8 ± 1.7 g/kg of body weight (BW; 62.3%); fat, 2.1 ± 0.2 g/kg BW (23.2%); proteins, 3.0 ± 0.3 g/kg BW (14.5%); total kcal was 5644.3 ± 593.1. Intake of all micronutrients, except for folate and potassium [which were 93.7% and 91.3% of Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA)] exceeded the RDA/I. Percentage of body fat and fat weight significantly decreased (P < 0.05) while weight of muscle mass remained unchanged after the Tour. Concentrations of urea, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, creatine kinase, myoglobin, and high-density lipoproteins significantly increased (P < 0.05) after the Tour. To our knowledge, this is the first study to describe both nutritional intake and the body and biochemical composition of a sample of professional road cyclists during a top-class cycling race.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Education, School of Sport Science, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Muñoz
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Education, School of Sport Science, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zabala
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition and Food Science, School of Pharmacy, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Muros
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue; D000328:Adult; D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood; D000886:Anthropometry; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000097:blood; D056352:Athletes; D001642:Bicycling; D001823:Body Composition; D001835:Body Weight; D003402:Creatine Kinase / Q000097:blood; D002149:Energy Intake; D005492:Folic Acid; D006801:Humans; D008075:Lipoproteins, HDL / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal; D009211:Myoglobin / Q000097:blood; D017419:Potassium, Dietary; D064167:Recommended Dietary Allowances; D014508:Urea / Q000097:blood; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D008075:Lipoproteins, HDL; D009211:Myoglobin; D017419:Potassium, Dietary; D014508:Urea; D005492:Folic Acid; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases; D000410:Alanine Transaminase; D003402:Creatine Kinase
keywords: Nutrition; biochemical profile; body composition; professionals