CHALLENGES FOR OPTIMIZING THE NUTRITION OF SOCCER PLAYERS
(nutritional myths, supplement use, travel schedules, tournament logistics).
Francis Holway, MSc.
Director of Nutrition,
Club Atlético River Plate,
Buenos Aires,
Argentina.
June, 2006.
Introduction:
Soccer is a team sport with heavy demands on the aerobic and anaerobic physiological
systems (1). During the 90 minutes the game lasts, players cover just over 10,000
metres, with a little more distance in the first half. This distance was covered running at
different speeds, with 32% (about 3,200 m.) walking, 42% (~ 4,200 m.) jogging, 11%
(~ 1,100 m.) at moderate speed, and 4% (~ 400 m.) with explosive sprints (2). The rest,
a further 11% (~ 1,100 m.) is covered with other type of displacements such as running
sideways or backwards. Of course, midfielders cover more ground than defenders and
forwards, and goalkeepers cover only around 4,000 metres per game. Recently, Jens
Bangsbo (3) showed, with video-analysis of games, that elite level teams such as those
in Serie A of the Italian league cover more ground at speeds above 15 km/hr than their
lower division counterparts, even though the total distance covered per game was
similar. This obviously points to a higher game intensity in players with better physical
fitness.
It is very difficult to carry out studies of soccer players during actual game situations,
since coaches and supporting staff would understandably rather not interfere with the
player’s game concentration and commitment. Nevertheless, a few studies, notably with
muscle biopsy in Scandinavia, shed light on the fact that glycogen stores are greatly
diminished after the first and second halves, and that distance ran is positively related to
glycogen stores before starting the game (4). More recently, studies with Nuclear
Magnetic Resonance Imaging technique also show that there is a heavy use of muscle
glycogen in soccer (5).
Hydration is another issue that has the potential to affect player performance, with
dehydration of as little as 2 % body weight having a negative impact (6). Dehydration is
highly individual, with body weight losses in games spanning from 1.19% to 3.89%.
Temperature and especially humidity impact sweat losses.
Training also imposes physiological demands that can sometimes mimic game
situations, although they are generally less. Pre-season training, with two or three daily
training sessions, usually increases demands maximally during the season. A very
special situation occurs when teams must play two games per week, a situation that
severely taxes the player’s recovery capabilities.
Taken together, these data mean that energy expenditure and glycogen replacement
requirements require a specific nutrition intervention, beyond a normal diet, in order to
optimize recovery and provide enough fuel for the activity. However, certain situations
such as myths (7), tournament logistics, and travel schedules can interfere with the
adequate delivery of fluids and nutrients to soccer players, hampering recovery and
game preparation (8). On the other hand, nutritional supplements and ergogenic aids are
purported to aid in recovery and enhance performance, sometimes with little research to
back up these claims. There might be situations where these products can be of help to
the soccer player, and others where they may even be detrimental or ergolytic. The
purpose of this brief overview is to identify the instances in the soccer environment
which can act as barriers to optimizing their nutrition.
Nutritional myths in soccer:
Myths are generally specific to the local cultural ambiance. Focus group sessions with
professionals involved in soccer in Argentina identified five major nutritional myths. A
survey on 798 soccer players (454 under 18 years -Youth, and 344 18 years and over
-Adult) was then carried out to establish the prevalence of these myths. Results were as
follows:
List of common nutritional myths:
1. Bread is more fattening than crackers.
2. Nutrition is not important for soccer.
3. Vitamin pills provide more energy than pasta.
4. Sleeping in is better than breakfast on match day.
5. Water is better than sports beverages for hydration.
Figure 1: Prevalence of nutritional myths in Argentina.
Youth Adult
100
87,9
90
77,0
80
70
60
% 50 44,3
37,0
40 33,8
30,3
30
20 11,4
8,1
10
0,7 0,3
0
Bread > fatt. Nut'n not Vits. > ener. Sleep > bkf. H2O >
imp. sp.bev.
Clearly, most players believe bread is fattening, an interesting fact, considering bread
has negligible amounts of fat and is a source of recommended carbohydrates for
athletes. Surprisingly, most players view nutrition as important, as opposed to the older
generations of coaches and support staff interviewed in the focus groups. At least a third
of the players believe vitamins provide energy, a fallacy, indicating poor knowledge of
nutrition energetics. A small percentage prefer to sleep in than to have breakfast, but
this may have to do with match time, which we unfortunately did not take into account.
Lastly, many players, youth and adult, still believe that water is better than sports
beverages for hydrating.
An interesting proposition is to ask ourselves if it is the scientists that may also be
victims of nutritional myths. This point stems from the fact that the carbohydrate
recommendations of 8-10 gm/Kg/day for soccer players undergoing heavy training or
match situations (14) is almost impossible to implement. Players find it extremely hard
to ingest this amount of carbohydrate food in the first place, and then see that their
weight goes up as they near these amounts, implying an excessively positive energy
balance. Players typically eat between 4 and 5 gm/Kg/day of carbohydrates, as shown in
Figure 2. Naturally, there may be some under-reporting, however I have failed in getting
players to eat more than 7 to 8 gm/Kg/day, and believe more work is needed in this
area, bridging the gap between science and practice.
Figure 2: Typical nutritional intake of soccer players in Argentina (n = 6).
4000
Energy (kcals)
3500
3000 3081 3075
2500 2665
2808 2680
2408 2430
2000 2316
1500
1000
Monday
Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday
Sunday
Friday
Wednesday
Week
(game)
(free)
Supplement use in soccer:
Figure 3: Prevalence of supplement use in Argentine soccer players.
YOUTH ADULT
31,4
Magnesium 12,6
3,5
Fat burners 1,3
7,6
Weight gainer 0,7
56,7
Multi-vit-min 46,9
12,5
Protein 10,8
23,8
Energy drinks 9,3
16,9
Amino acids 3,3
36,9
Creatine 4,8
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
%
The results of the survey on supplement use show that multi-vitamin-mineral pills are
the most popular, comprising about half the sample, followed by creatine and
magnesium, with energy drinks, amino acids and protein powders in a distant third
place. Fat burners and weight gainers are very seldom used in this environment. There
are marked differences among age groups, especially for creatine, energy drinks, amino
acids and magnesium, where the older players had a much higher prevalence.
Figure 4: Perceived benefits or harm by ingestion of supplements in adult players only:
50,0%
Magnesium 2,6%
47,4%
83,3%
Fat burners
16,7%
76,9%
Weight gainer 3,8%
19,2%
43,1%
Multi-vit-min 1,0%
55,9%
61,9%
Protein 2,4%
35,7%
87,8%
Energy drinks 1,2%
11,0%
60,3%
Amino acids 1,7%
37,9%
33,1%
Creatine 24,2%
42,7%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
%
Better Harm None
The results for the perceived benefits (or harm) from supplements was only established
for the adult players, since the prevalence of supplement use in youth is small. What we
find is that for most supplements, players perceived no effect, or a placebo effect was in
place, such as with magnesium or multi-vitamins, where half the sample perceived a
positive result and the other half did not notice anything.
A case on its own is creatine, where 42.7 % felt a performance enhancement effect, 24.2
% a performance detriment (either as unwanted weight gain, gastro-intestinal upset,
increased incidence of cramps, muscle tightness, pulls, and injuries), and 33.1 % noticed
no effect. A Chi square Goodness of Fit Test (9) revealed no statistically significant
difference among these groups (p = 0.063), even though the clinical significance is
evidently interesting and merits further study. Creatine will remain a controversial issue
in soccer, especially when there are no well-documented performance benefits when
soccer-specific tests were carried out (8).
Supplements which might aid recovery and performance in soccer players are well-
formulated sports beverages, carbohydrate powders and drinks, sports bars, chocolate
milk (protein and carbohydrate mix for post-exercise recovery), and iron in case of
documented deficiencies. Creatine may work in players who perceive benefits, although
care must be exercised here, little is known about the benefits or detrimental effects in
soccer. Dosage should be 2 to 5 grams per day, taken together with carbohydrates (as in
a meal situation), over a period of 6 weeks, followed by a 2 to 3 week rest. It is advised
to avoid the initial loading phase of 20 grams per day, as it may cause unwanted side
effects (11). Caffeine has been shown to be ergogenic and has recently been taken off
the banned substances list, however the ethics surrounding its use should not be ignored.
Caffeine expert Dr. Lawrence Spriet recently explained that a dose of 3 mg / Kg body
weight will generate maximal performance benefits, so larger doses are unwarranted
(12). This means 225 mg for a 75 Kg player, a moderate amount found in, say, two cups
of good coffee.
Hydration knowledge in Argentine soccer:
Table 1: Hydration knowledge.
Theme Youth Adult
(n = 454) (n = 344)
Weight loss during a game.
< 1 Kg 160 (35.2%) 71 (20.6%)
1 - 2 Kg 72 (15.9%) 143 (41.6%)
> 2 Kg 2 (0.4%) 27 (7.8%)
Don't know 220 (48.5%) 103 (29.9%)
Drinking at half-time.
Yes 361 (79.5%) 302 (87.8%)
No 15 (3.3%) 8 (2.3%)
Sometimes 78 (17,2%) 34 (9.9%)
Gastro-Intestinal distress from sports beverage.
Yes 26 (5.7%) 28 (8.1%)
No 401 (88.3%) 298 (86.6%)
Sometimes 27 (5.9%) 18 (5.2%)
As was mentioned before, hydration is a key issue in the performance of soccer players,
and an individualized approach should be encouraged. Therefore players’ knowledge of
their weight loss during a game is essential. We found out that half the youth and a third
of the adult players were unaware of how much weight they lost per game, a surprising
finding. Most drink something at half time, yet there are a few that never or seldom do,
and only a small percentage feel GI-distress symptoms from sports beverages in game
situations. These answers could be confounded by the fact that several youth players
had never drunk a sports beverage in their lives.
Measurements of electrolyte losses in elite soccer players have shown that there is a
large variability not only of fluid losses, but also salt, ranging from 1 to 10 grams per
game. Since most health departments recommend to limit salt intake to less than 6
grams a day, this may not apply to players with large salt losses. Salt deficiencies have
been implicated in muscle cramps, and issue that is usually remedied with a higher salt
intake (13).
Travel schedules and tournament logistics:
The championships in Argentina are comprised of two 19-game short tournaments in
the year, with half a dozen teams participating concomitantly in continental tournaments
such as the Copa Libertadores and Sudamericana. It is not uncommon for some players
in these heavy-scheduled teams to play between 33 and 76 matches per year, with an
average around 50. A great colleague of mine, Dr. Turibio Leite Barros Neto, has told
me that in Brazil many players play up to 90 games per year! Distances in South
America are large, and travel is usually in the North-South direction, implying trips
longer than 6 hours, and wide variety of different climatic environments, making
nutrition and hydration strategies difficult to optimize. Moreover, South America is
notorious for worker strikes and airport delays. Very briefly, the answer here is to plan
ahead, including extra snack allowances for possible delays. Regarding the high
frequency of games that players are submitted to, the best answer is to rotate players as
much as possible, since no amount of nutritional recovery stratagem will succeed in
recovering players from two-a-week games. If not, reduced performance and injuries
might become evident (10).
Conclusions and recommendations:
Soccer players need to pay attention to their nutrition, in particular trying to increase
carbohydrate and reduce fat intake. Those players prone to high fluid and salt losses
should be identified with before-and-after-game weigh-ins, and by wearing a black shirt
to identify salt losses. Several nutritional myths might interfere with optimal nutrition,
but these might be specific to each cultural setting. It is important to identify them and
educate the players and their family members, coaches, and support staff. Some
supplements may aid performance and recovery, notably sports beverages, carbohydrate
snacks and fluids, caffeine, and protein-carbohydrate drinks such as chocolate milk.
Creatine, if used, must be taken in low doses with periodic rest periods, and only on
those players who notice improvements without harming health or performance. Legal
regulations might impede its use in Brazil. Tournament logistics and travel can interfere
with optimal nutrition by altering meal times and composition. With adequate planning
these inconveniences can be minimized.
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