How General Nutrition Knowledge Relates to Diet Quality in Elite Athletes

A total of 101 athletes, with an average age of 18.6 years, were assessed for their nutrition knowledge and dietary quality.

• Females had higher scores in nutrition knowledge (59.9%) compared to males (55.6%; p = .017) and also scored higher in dietary quality (A-ARFS: Females 54.2%, Males 49.4%; p = .016).
• Previous dietetic consultation was linked to higher nutrition knowledge (61.6% vs. 56.6%; p = .034), but not to dietary quality (A-ARFS: 53.6% vs. 52.0%; p = .466).
• A weak positive association was found between nutrition knowledge and total dietary quality (r = .261, p = .008) and specifically with the vegetable subgroup (r = .252, p = .024).
• Gender independently accounted for 5.6% of the variance in nutrition knowledge and 6.7% in dietary quality (A-ARFS).
• Higher nutrition knowledge and being female were both weakly associated with better dietary quality.

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