Dietary habits and energy balance in an under 21 male international soccer team

Soccer presents a metabolic challenge which is not necessarily matched by players’ habitual dietary intake. To examine the effects of a bespoke diet, 22 players completed the BEAST90mod protocol, followed by 4 days of regulated nutritional intake. The diet consisted of 10 g∙kg-1 BM and 1.7 g∙kg-1 BM of carbohydrate and protein. On day five, players followed a pre-match nutritional strategy of 7 g∙kg·BM-1 of carbohydrate and 1 g∙kg·BM-1 of protein divided into three meals, and then repeated the BEAST90mod. The players’ pre intervention intake consisted of 49 ± 7.1% or 3.5 g ± 1.0 g∙kg-1 BM for CHO and 19 ± 3.8% of TDEI or 1.3 g ± 0.5 g∙kg-1 BM for protein. Following the tailor made dietary intervention players ran an additional 887 ± 233m (8.1%; d = 2.4). An acute dietary intervention provided a positive effect on a valid simulated soccer match play test. Keywords: Dietary Intervention, nutrition; performance, BEAST90mod