Abstract

This paper aims to study the calcium food intake of young gymnasts and the relationship among calcium nutrition, exercise and bone mineral status. 13 elite young gymnasts aged 11~12 with 3 to 7 years of training experience are chosen as subjects. At the same time, 14 young students at the same age are selected as control group. Dietary survey is made to investigate their calcium and protein intakes status. The calcium intakes of young gymnasts are 515.3±218.0 mg/d, which are only 51.5% of calcium reference intakes. The BMC, bone area and BMD of young gymnasts are all significantly lower than those of young students by 23, 14 and 11%, respectively (p<0.05). It concludes that the calcium intakes of young gymnasts are lower than Chinese calcium reference intakes. The BMC and BMD of young gymnasts are lower than those of young students at the same age. Perhaps it is related to their heavy training load, the high requirement of calcium and the long-term inadequate calcium intake. Therefore, we suggest that young gymnasts can appropriate to eat more calcium rich food (milk or dairy products) to improve the calcium intakes and then to add BMC and BMD.

Keywords:

Calcium food, exercise performance, intake, young gymnasts,

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Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

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The authors have no competing interests.