1.Body composition, blood profile and dietary intake in college American football players: The differences between the positions
Yuya Kakutani ; Shigeru Ueshima ; Masako Kawanishi ; Masaki Tokimoto ; Tokuma Matsunami ; Kazunori Sagawa ; Chiho Myojin
Japanese Journal of Physical Fitness and Sports Medicine 2013;62(5):413-423
The purpose of this study was to clarify the body composition and blood profile in college American football players, and whether the differences can be referred to their playing positions; Lines vs Backs. Body compositions, blood profile and nutrients intake were investigated. The Linemen showed a significant higher %BF than Backs, and most of the Linemen were assessed as obese according to their %BF and BMI. The risk of dyslipidemia in Linemen was higher than that in the Backs. There were no obvious difference between Linemen and Backs in their intake amount of energy and all nutrients per person. However, when compared in per body-weight, the intake amount of energy and 3 major nutrients were significantly low in Linemen than Backs. Furthermore, the data indicate that dietary awareness and diet behavior are relatively poor in the Linemen. Since body weight is the most crucial factor of Linemen for their playing performances, it can be speculated that their necessity to gain body weight may have led them to be obesity. Since weight-gain is not desirable in the aspect of metabolic disorders prevention, our result indicated that Linemen, rather than the Backs, are the potential target who need an appropriate nutritional support by dietician to control their nutritional intake and body weight, not only for achieving sport performance but also for preventing metabolic disorders. Therefore, it was suggested that periodical survey of blood profile and body composition, together with appropriate nutritional support by dieticians, may be helpful for Linemen, in future.