Sports nutrition is application of nutrition knowledge in sports and exercise to help athletes enhance their performance, help in post exercise recovery and maintain good health. Sports nutrition helps active individual achieve their sports specific or exercise specific goals through proper nutrition. These sports specific goals have different nutritional requirements and regime than others. Designing a practical diet plan for individuals to supply right type of nutrients in the required amount to help them improve the performance as well as help their body to repair and be healthy. Different stages of training and competition requires nutritional plans like before competition plan, recovery period plan off season plans etc.
Sports nutritionists helps athletes and fitness enthusiasts understand how the food they eat improves their health, and optimizes their on-field performance. They work with individual clients to asses and analyse their nutrient intake, lifestyle to create a nutrition plan that will increase their endurance as well as help recover as quickly as possible.
As people are now aiming more at having a healthy lifestyle and making conscious food choice; nutrition as an industry is growing faster. With a fast-growing wellness and health industry there is always a demand for nutritionist to help create products like dietary supplements, fortified food products to help reduce deficiencies, sports enhancing supplements or ingredients.
Nutrition industry is divided into smaller parts depending upon the goal and need of nutrition. It includes sports nutrition, clinical nutrition, wellness nutrition as well as public health nutrition. Sports nutrition is one of the aspects of nutrition industry where increasing demand for various protein supplements, energy bars among athletes is a major factor for market growth of this industry. The other factors influencing this industry include urbanization, advertisements of nutrition products and increase in fitness and gym centre. Today the sports nutrition supplement is one of the largest market sectors.
Wellness is other part of nutrition industry that includes personal care, beauty care, healthy eating for fitness, weight loss nutrition. Wellness nutrition also includes kids’ nutrition. Clinical nutrition focuses on balancing nutrients to keep patients healthy. This is the growing sector as there is increase in number of people suffering from various health conditions and diseases. Public health plays a role in combatting malnutrition and women nutrition. Focuses on deficiencies nutrition in kids, girl child or adolescent girls, expecting mother in different regions.
Indian nutrition industry comprises of functional food, beverages and dietary supplements. Functional foods include fortified items like breakfast cereals, cereal flours or other flours fortified with specific nutrients, beverages like sports drinks, fortified fruit juices or water. Wellness sector include various nutrition formulas like kids’ nutrition, geriatric nutrition, nutrition for critically ill patients. All these have specific nutrition formulated products to help them get healthy. This industry allows the companies to make client-oriented products with food and medicine under one roof. With India’s rich heritage, knowledge of herbs, food and its medicinal use, there is a wide scope of nutrition implementation in formulation of new products for consumers.
Any market or industry grows when there are specific trend and their demands. Since past few years nutrition industry is recognized with the quality of life and the standard of living. The food trends that make this industry work are immune booster, mental health foods, weight management products, local foods, sugar free etc. Since people are particular about what they eat, ‘natural foods, organic or free from’ are one of the rising trends seen in nutrition industry.
Food is the fundamental part of living beings and hence nobody can live without food. This states that how this industry is ever growing and is good as a career option. Since it’s a fast-growing industry there are variety of roles needed to be played to help it work. Following are few job profiles the nutrition industry has to offer for aspiring nutritionists:
- Clinical nutritionist
- Sports nutritionist
- Health coach or consultants
- Diabetic educator
- Food service manager: working for hospitals, schools, care centres
- Food safety officers
- Quality assurance technicians
- Nutrition educators
- Product R&D specialist
- Culinary specialists
- Catering supervisor
- Food marketing
For sports science and management students learning about sports nutrition will develop a better understanding about fuelling and recovery strategy for sports training. It will also enhance their knowledge about nutrition related issues that cause a decline in sports performance and also about the nutrition strategies to follow during rehabilitation. Also, for sports administrator’s nutrition knowledge will help to provide better food services and catering management in a sports organization.
Written by Ms. Aradhana Sharma
Senior Sports Science Consultant, Dept. of Sports and Youth Welfare, MP
Adjt. Faculty, Dept. of Exercise and Sports Science, Manipal University
Senior Consultant, Naval Tata Hockey Academy, Odisha
Expert Trainer, OGQ Coaches Excellence Program