Role of food in sport of higher achievements

Abstract

The article sets the task to consider the role of nutrition in sports of the highest achievements. As a result of the analysis of the scientific literature on this subject, not only the characteristic features of the highest achievement sport were revealed, but also a number of factors of paramount importance for highly qualified athletes were discovered. The introduction of two- and three-time training has significantly changed the diet of highly qualified athletes, and the improvement of training methods has led to a significant increase in the energy costs of the body. Highly qualified athletes have full coverage of energy costs is a necessary requirement. But in the human body, nutrients do not “burn out” as in calorimeters. And it is the biological oxidation of nutrients. And only in this way does the body receive energy for its vital functions, which is used both for internal needs and for performing mechanical work. In a person’s physical labor, the coefficient of performance ranges from 16 to 25% and amounts to an average of 20%, but in some cases it can be higher. This is because about half of the chemical energy contained in food is immediately converted into heat and dissipated in space, the other half goes to the formation of ATP. With the subsequent splitting of ATP, half of the released energy is again converted into heat. As a result, a person can spend no more than 1/4 of all energy consumed in the form of food for performing external work (for example, running or moving any objects in space). Given the average indicator of the efficiency of the work of the human body in the amount of 25% and making mathematical calculations, the authors concluded that the missing energy in the amount of about 5.5% of the daily energy consumption for a highly qualified athlete can be a decisive link in the struggle for prize places in sports of the highest achievements. Where the high “cost” of each error, each unsuccessful start becomes a factor determining the future sports career of this athlete. Based on the foregoing, after certain mathematical calculations, the authors proposed a more optimal formula for calculating daily energy costs for highly qualified athletes.