Current Trends in Performance Nutrition for Athletes

Marie Dunford, PhD, RD

This National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) PASS course on performance nutrition provides the certified athletic trainer (ATC) with advanced knowledge of performance nutrition. Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to translate this knowledge of performance nutrition principles into practical advice for physically active people. With current information, you will be able to answer the questions that athletes, coaches, and parents frequently ask about nutrition.

Current Trends in Performance Nutrition, by Marie Dunford, PhD, RD, serves as the foundation text for this course. This book was written expressly for the course.

The first session, Using the Food Guide Pyramid as a Teaching Tool, helps you learn how to teach athletes to use and apply the Food Guide Pyramid. By the time you finish this session, you'll recognize ways in which guidelines such as the Food Guide Pyramid are misinterpreted. Working with a virtual athlete, you'll determine whether or not her current diet is likely to be lacking nutrients. You'll also analyze how to communicate messages about general nutrition. The session concludes with a discussion about scope of practice. This discussion is designed to help you discern the difference between advising and counseling.

The second session, Evaluating a Collegiate Athlete's Diet, helps you understand the most current nutritional standards and guidelines. You'll compare a virtual athlete's dietary intake with the established nutrient standards and, using a computerized nutrition program, determine whether that athlete's current diet is likely to be lacking nutrients. This session concludes with a discussion about scope of practice and when to refer athletes to other health professionals.

A learn-at-lunch seminar is the setting for the third session. The first two sessions of the course present you with opportunities to use a simple nutrition screening tool (the Food Guide Pyramid) as well as a more advanced tool (a computerized nutrient analysis) to determine whether dietary guidelines and standards are being met by an athlete's current diet. This session presents an in-depth discussion of the current nutrition guidelines for athletes in training. By the end of this session, you'll understand the current standards, know how they were established and how they should be interpreted and applied. Some of the subtleties of the guidelines are highlighted in the discussion. Throughout this session, you'll examine the current controversies and trends for carbohydrate, protein, fat, and fluid intake.

There are so many new sport nutrition products on the market that ATCs are likely to get plenty of questions about particular products. Session 4 is designed to help you to correctly interpret the information found on food labels. You'll evaluate the nutrient content of various sport beverages and energy bars. You'll compare and contrast the usefulness of sport nutrition products across a variety of situations.

Without a doubt, the most talked-about nutrition-related issue is weight loss. Athletes have weight-loss questions, too, including questions about dietary supplements associated with weight loss. Session 5 provides an opportunity to examine the issues that led to the banning of ephedrine-containing dietary supplements in the United States. You'll review potential ephedra alternatives. You'll analyze the principles of various popular weight-loss diets. The session concludes with a discussion of the nondiet approach to healthy eating.

Distinguishing fact from fiction can be a difficult task, especially when the focus is the role of nutrition in athletic performance. Myths about sport nutrition are brought to light in session 6 when Dr. Dunford is joined by two more registered dietitians, Ellen Coleman and Sally Hara. The session provides complete and factual information that you can use to counter many myths about sport nutrition.

The course concludes with a comprehensive final exam. This is a timed exam. You must pass this exam in order to earn your continuing education credits.

Our goal in this online course is to provide you with an opportunity to expand your knowledge about nutrition and its role in performance. In this course, you'll spend quite a bit of time determining whether an athlete's current diet meets recommended guidelines, and you'll read and interpret research-based information about nutrition, including dietary supplements. Certified athletic trainers receive general nutrition training as part of their undergraduate curriculum, and this course will help you update and expand your knowledge base. You need to be especially aware of your scope of practice. Providing general nutrition information is one thing; providing clinical advice or designing and modifying diets must be left to other specialists, such as registered dietitians.

Remember that this course is just one part of your overall continuing professional development. You should also network with other certified athletic trainers and health professionals to gain more hands-on experience. Educating athletes, coaches, and parents about the importance of nutrition in athletics will become an important task for you after you successfully complete this course.

People participating in this course should carefully examine applicable individual institutional rules and guidelines as well as state and federal laws and statutes addressing the topics covered in this course to determine the legalities of providing nutrition services. This course does not constitute legal advice. Human Kinetics and the NATA disclaim all liability from any and all actions taken by anyone as a result of the information distributed in this course. All people participating in this course expressly acknowledge that they have read and understand this disclaimer and are not relying on this course, instead of applicable individual institutional rules and guidelines as well as state and federal laws and statutes addressing topics covered in this course, in making decisions as to the legality of providing nutrition services.

System Requirements

This course is designed to work best when your computer and Internet browser are configured to the following technical requirements and setup specifications:

Get Adobe Flash Player Get Adobe Reader

Back to the Online Education Center