Evaluation of national athletes’ attitude to vitamin/mineral supplements

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the nutrition-related knowledge, attitude and
vitamin/mineral supplements intake of elite national athletes. Methods: Sixty eight Iranian
National Athletes from volleyball (n=9), karate (n=12), weightlifting (n=7), wresting (n=7),
taekwondo (n=10), basketball (n=10), boxing (n=8), and Judo (n=5) were included in this study.
The self-administered questionnaire examined the athlete’s nutrition knowledge, attitude and
supplement frequency intake. The athlete’s height, weight, and sport experience were recorded.
Results: High mean dietary intake scores were found for vitamin E, calcium, multivitamin and low
mean dietary intake scores were found for folate and pantothenic acid. A moderate correlation was
found between attitude and supplements intake (r=0.545, P<0.01). There were significant
differences in the amount of vitamin and mineral supplements intake between weight lifting elite
national athletes team compared to others (P<0.05). Moreover, the result showed significant
differences between elite national athletes of boxing team compared to volleyball, taekwondo, and
basketball teams (P<0.05). Conclusions: It can be concluded that athletes in national teams should
extend their knowledge regarding to the amount of vitamin and mineral supplements intake. Future
research also, should explore factors other than knowledge and attitude which may have influence
on dietary intake among national athletes.