Eating Patterns and Composition of Meals and Snacks in Elite Canadian Athletes.
Eating patterns and composition of meals and snacks in elite canadian athletes.
Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2013 Jun; 23(3): 210-9
Erdman KA, Tunnicliffe J, Lun VM, Reimer RA
The purpose of this study was to determine the meal- and snack-eating frequency and the nutritional composition of each eating occasion of Canadian high-performance athletes during training. Athletes from 8 Canadian Sport Centres prospectively completed 3-d dietary records including all food, fluid, and supplements consumed. The time of consumption and whether the consumption was a meal or snack were also identified. The dietary records were analyzed for energy (kcal) and macronutrient intake (carbohydrate, protein, and fat) and compared based on gender, age, meal vs. snack, and training vs. rest days. Three hundred twenty-four athletic subjects (64% female and 36% male) completed the study. On average, the athletes ate 4.8 ± 0.8 times daily. Nearly all athletes consumed 3 daily meals of breakfast (98.9%), lunch (97.9%), and dinner (98.7%), with few having snacks: 57%, 71.6%, and 58.1% of athletes consumed an a.m., p.m., and evening snack, respectively. Training-day meal frequency did not differ from that during rest days; however, fewer snacks were consumed on rest days. A.m. and p.m. snacks were consumed significantly more often on training days than rest days. Overall, snacks contributed 24.3% of total daily energy intake. Few dietary variations were discovered between genders, while the youngest athletes (<18 yr) ate less often, especially their morning snack, than the older athletes. In conclusion, Canadian high-performance athletes self-adjusted their energy intakes on training vs. rest days primarily by snacking less and reducing their carbohydrate and protein intakes on rest days, yet they consistently ate regular meals. HubMed – eating
Co-occurrence patterns of Bornean vertebrates suggest competitive exclusion is strongest among distantly related species.
Oecologia. 2013 Jun 5;
Beaudrot L, Struebig MJ, Meijaard E, van Balen S, Husson S, Marshall AJ
Assessing the importance of deterministic processes in structuring ecological communities is a central focus of community ecology. Typically, community ecologists study a single taxonomic group, which precludes detection of potentially important biotic interactions between distantly related species, and inherently assumes competition is strongest between closely related species. We examined distribution patterns of vertebrate species across the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia to assess the extent to which inter-specific competition may have shaped ecological communities on the island and whether the intensity of inter-specific competition in present-day communities varies as a function of evolutionary relatedness. We investigated the relative extent of competition within and between species of primates, birds, bats and squirrels using species presence-absence and attribute data compiled for 21 forested sites across Borneo. We calculated for each species pair the checkerboard unit value (CU), a statistic that is often interpreted as indicating the importance of interspecific competition. The percentage of species pairs with significant CUs was lowest in within-taxon comparisons. Moreover, for invertebrate-eating species the percentage of significantly checkerboarded species pairs was highest in comparisons between primates and other taxa, particularly birds and squirrels. Our results are consistent with the interpretation that competitive interactions between distantly related species may have shaped the distribution of species and thus the composition of Bornean vertebrate communities. This research highlights the importance of taking into account the broad mammalian and avian communities in which species occur for understanding the factors that structure biodiversity. HubMed – eating
The effect of the home environment on physical activity and dietary intake in preschool children.
Int J Obes (Lond). 2013 May 20;
Ostbye T, Malhotra R, Stroo M, Lovelady C, Brouwer R, Zucker N, Fuemmeler B
Background:The effects of the home environment on child health behaviors related to obesity are unclear.Purpose:To examine the role of the home physical activity (PA) and food environment on corresponding outcomes in young children, and assess maternal education/work status as a moderator.Methods:Overweight or obese mothers reported on the home PA and food environment (accessibility, role modeling and parental policies). Outcomes included child moderate-vigorous PA (MVPA) and sedentary time derived from accelerometer data and two dietary factors (“junk” and healthy food intake scores) based on factor analysis of mother-reported food intake. Linear regression models assessed the net effect (controlling for child demographics, study arm, supplemental timepoint, maternal education/work status, child body mass index and accelerometer wear-time (for PA outcomes)) of the home environment on the outcomes and moderation by maternal education/work status. Data was collected in North Carolina from 2007-2011.Results:Parental policies supporting PA increased MVPA time, and limiting access to unhealthy foods increased the healthy food intake score. Role modeling of healthy eating behaviors increased the healthy food intake score among children of mothers with no college education. Among children of mothers with no college education and not working, limiting access to unhealthy foods and role modeling reduced ‘junk’ food intake scores while parental policies supporting family meals increased ‘junk’ food intake scores.Conclusions:To promote MVPA, parental policies supporting child PA are warranted. Limited access to unhealthy foods and role modeling of healthy eating may improve the quality of the child’s food intake.International Journal of Obesity accepted article preview online, 20 May 2013; doi:10.1038/ijo.2013.76. HubMed – eating