Nutrition for master athletes: from challenges to optimisation strategies

Abstract

Master athletes are genuine examples of successful ageing thanks to their capacity of maintaining a high level of sports performance during their entire life. Within the last decade many studies have focused on the evolution of performance in many sports with ageing, as well as on the training modalities to reach such performance. On the contrary, there is a paucity of data on the nutritional habits of master athletes and the question of whether they need to adapt their nutrition to the ageing process remains unsolved. This is within this context of the optimisation of nutrition for master athletes that this review stands. The aim is to identify the potential nutritional challenges encountered by master athletes and how to handle them through adapted nutritional strategies. Given the lack of data specific to master athletes, studies including master athletes are considered as a priority, though we also make inferences based on nutrition for young adults and perturbations induced by ageing in non-athletic populations. The first part of this opinion paper tackles the first challenge faced by master athletes which is the gradual reduction in energy intake with ageing. The second challenge is the anabolic resistance and the need for increased protein intake. The third nutritional challenge we present is the episodes of metabolic crisis master athletes may face throughout life. Finally, we gather the main nutritional recommendations for master athletes and suggest the next stage of research.