Nutrition is branch of science that studies effects of food that we eat on our health. This obviously means that when you study the effect of your food on your sport activity, it becomes sports nutrition. Sports in itself is a big industry and hence sports nutrition also has become a big industry.
The sporting activity consumes lot of energy. So sports nutrition should include the diet which will provide the sportsman with extra and fast energy. Similarly we know that certain sports require certain type of stamina. So it is obvious that providing sports specific nutrition must be a good challenge for the dietician.
The food that we consume contains carbohydrates. These provide energy to a person.
These carbohydrates get broken in to small parts as glucose, or sugars. They are absorbed by body and used, when energy is required. For sportsman, muscle contraction needs energy. So consumption of carbohydrates is necessary for a sportsman for his energy needs. To determine what sort of carbohydrates a sportsman should consume will be job of sports nutrition science. Also note that different types of games will require different types of carbohydrates. Thus sports nutrition will answer all your questions regarding consumption of carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates stored as glycogen are ready source of energy. The sports nutrition covers, study of when these glycogen levels are maximum. It is clear that a sportsman should start his exercise when his glycogen level is maximum. The sports nutrition also studies how fast this glycogen is consumed during the exercises. The need of exercise varies from sport to sport. The sports nutrition also covers the study of making up for the lost glycogen fast.
The sports nutrition also includes study of different types of foods containing different types of carbohydrates. Simple sugars are absorbed by the body very fast. They provide instant, fast energy to the sportsman. Fruit and energy drinks are simple sugars, providing immediate energy to the sportsman. Cereals, grains, their breads, provide you complex carbohydrates. These take more time to get broken as glucose or simple sugars in digestive process. Starch is most important carbohydrate in sports nutrition, for energy requirements as it provides conversion in to glycogen.
Fat is another source of energy, which is used by the sportsman. The sports nutrition throws interesting light on this controversial topic. We know that any excess calorie intake by the body is converted in to fat. The first important point is fat provides insulation cover to our organs. Thus we must have enough fat to provide security to body organs .The fat also gives good cushion to body. This is extremely useful in the sports.
The study of fats is also in sports nutrition. Thus we have covered some points in sports nutrition.