Food Pyramid for Athletes - Background

Introduction

Scientific guidelines related to energy and nutrient intake for athletes are hard to understand for most athletes and more practical recommendations are preferred. Food pyramids are pictorial representations of dietary goals, which are to translate scientific reference data into easily understandable nutrition recommendations. Food pyramids have been designed in many countries for different proposes. They show in an easy manner to lay people what kind of food they should choose to match with current nutrition guidelines. 

Athletes also want to know what food they have to eat and drink in order to sustain optimal performance and health. Scientific guidelines in sports nutrition are usually formulated as amount of nutrient per kilogram body mass the athletes should eat. However, since we do not eat nutrients but food that contains nutrient, such guidelines need to be translated into foods.

The Food Pyramid for Athletes (the first one worldwide, according to our knowledge) represents such a translation and should help athletes with their daily food choice. The aim of this pyramid is to show to the athletes what foods and drinks they need in relation to their personal training volume (at a defined intensity).

Development of the pyramid

The Food Pyramid for Athletes was released on the 1^st of February 2008 on the occasion of the 3^rd International conference of applied sports nutrition in Zurich.

When designing / building the pyramid we tried to translate the additional energy and nutrient needs of the athletes into recommendation of eating additional servings of specific food groups. As first step we determined the additional energy expenditure for sport. Then, this additional energy need was translated into servings of different food groups, taking into consideration the additional needs of the macronutrients carbohydrate, fat, and protein of the athletes.

After having developed the pyramid we validated it by designing meal plans according to the description of the pyramid. The validation showed that eating and drinking according to the pyramid guidelines leads to a sufficient energy and nutrient intake that corresponds to current guidelines in sports nutrition. The energy and nutrient supply was appropriate for the different training volumes and for different body masses of athletes.

Publications

The scientific publication about the pyramid has been published in the 2009 October issue of the Int J Sport Nutr Ex Metab; 19(5), 504-18 (pdf).

An interview with Louise Burke about the pyramid project has been published in the 2008 August issue of the Int J Sport Nutr Ex Metab; 18(4), 430-7 (pdf).