Nutricional evaluation in professional MMA athletes

Abstract

Therefore, nutrition is an extremely important variable that must be controlled in the daily lives of fighters. MMA competitions have been gaining an enormous repercussion in the media and have become increasingly more competitive. Several nutritional strategies are capable of interfering in the performance of the athletes, particularly the inadequacies of diet can harm athletic performance. Because MMA will be an interesting sport for the evaluation of the effects of an inadequate diet, the goal of this study is to perform a nutritional evaluation with 6 professional male athletes (age 31.5 ± 10.0, height 177cm ± 8.6, weight 78.6kg ± 7.9, BMI of 23.5 ± 0.7, fat free mass of 62.0kg ± 7.0 and fat mass 9.0kg ± 2.0) regarding the caloric value of diet and macronutrient consumption. The results were obtained from professional athletes with a daily caloric intake for 2.271kcal and 29.9kcal/kg/day. The carbohydrate intake was 221.6g per day and 2.8g/kg. The protein intake was 180g and 2.3g/kg. The fat intake was 55g and 0.71g/kg. An elevated protein consumption was noted, which could be reduced to generate an increased consumption of carbohydrates and fats, because the results show a low consumption of both carbohydrates and fats. The inadequate profile of macronutrient intake could be due to the lack of knowledge of the athletes about the subject and the lack of professional advice or consultation. Thus, it seems to us that the introduction of surveys about the basic knowledge of nutrition for these athletes is needed for the success of the implementation of changes in their diets, as well as, it was also clear that the athletes of our sample could increase their percentage intake of carbohydrates and fats by reducing proteins.