Nutritional Differences

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Differences in Nutritional Requirements for Non-Athletic Children and Athletic Children Sports are an integral part of America's culture, so it would make sense for children to have the opportunity to get involved in sports. It is reported that approximately 21.5 million children in the United States, ranging from the ages of 6 to 17, compete in team sports (Carchia & Kelley, 2013). This is a positive statistic because children who are regularly active decrease their risk of developing obesity, diabetics, heart problems, and other health issues. Although, the question arises: Do athletic children have different nutritional requirements than there less active counterparts? This paper will endeavor to define what is nutritionally appropriate …show more content…
Research has shown that children who play sports do have unique nutritional needs due to, "Their rapid growth, increase in muscle mass, and changes in hormones" from both the extra physical activity and the natural growth that their body's will undergo until having reached adulthood (Webb, 2012). One of the components that differs in a child athlete's diet is energy intake. Suzanne Nelson, ScD, RD has found that "active kids may need 500 to 1,000 more calories per day than their sedentary peers" (Webb, 2012). This is a consequence of the large amount of energy that a child uses up while preforming their sport, but still needing the required amount of energy for normal bodily functions and growth. Another factor that needs to be examined is the amounts of macronutrients that a child athlete needs. Actually, the distribution of macronutrients is similar to a non-athletic children. Carbohydrates are very important to children who play sports because it is where they derive their energy from; therefore, they should consume "55% of calories (more on heavy training days), 5 to 8 g/kg of body weight" (Webb, 2012). Athletic children do need fats and it should make up "25% to 30% of total calories", but they should not consume fatty foods right before training because it could cause discomfort (Webb, 2012). Protein is another macronutrients that is very important for a child athlete because it assists in muscle recovery after exercise; a child athlete's diet should consist of "10% to 15% of calories. Recommendations for total protein intakes are 0.95 g/kg/day for kids aged 4 to 13 and 0.85 g/kg/day for adolescents aged 14 to 18" (Webb, 2012). Water intake is the one of the main nutritional difference between an athletic child and a non athletic child. Children who play sports are going to lose water through sweet, especially in hot climates, so they are
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