The Relationship Between Body Image, Eating Behavior and Nutritional Status for Female Athletes

Abstract

The present study was conducted by using the cross-sectional study design and to determine the relationship between body image, eating behavior and nutritional status in female athletes. This study demonstrated that 70.0% of the female athletes had skipped meal. Also, female athletes had a normal BMI but 65.0% of them indicated that want to be thinner. On the other hand, we analyzed that their daily nutrients intake, so we observed that 43.4% of the energy was from the fatty acids, especially saturated fatty acids, and they had lower fiber, calcium and iron intake. Also, we found that BMI, waist circumference, waist to hip ratio were negatively correlated with MBSRQ and DEBQ score and they were lower in who had meal skipped or not received diet therapy. As a conclusion, nutrition education is frequently neglected in sports programs. There is a paucity of nutrition education interventions among different sports.