Background: Nutrition has always been associated with eating behaviour. The eating
behaviour can impact not only the normal population but also athletes’ population including
disabled athletes too. Athletes have a higher tendency to unhealthy eating behaviour due to intense
pressure and competitive environment in sports. It is important to identify the types of eating
behaviour among disabled athletes to prevent eating disorder that could affect their performance.
Thus, this study aims to identify the types of eating behaviour among disabled athletes in Malaysia.
Methods: This study involved 93 disabled athletes in Malaysia. The setting of the study is at
National Sports Council, Malaysia. The data obtained are analysed using chi-square test using SPSS.
Results: This study shows that the most common types of eating behaviour among disabled
athletes are emotional eating (37.6%), followed by uncontrolled eating (34.3%) and cognitive
restraint (28%). Most of the overweight and obese disabled athletes are prone to emotional eating
(19.4%) as compared to non-overweight athletes (18.3%).
Conclusion: As a conclusion, recognising the eating behaviour in disabled athletes is
important as more effective and innovative interventions and measures can be undertaken to
prevent eating disorder which can enhance sports performance.