Cross-sectional analysis highlights nutrition and physical activity factors influencing diet quality in young football players, suggesting targeted interventions may improve practices.
Key Points
Only 1.28% of young football players met all key criteria for a healthy diet, pointing to a significant gap in actual dietary behaviours.
The pro-Healthy Diet Index was influenced notably by the Cole index and nutritional knowledge, explaining 25% of the variance in diet quality.
Observational analysis of dietary behaviours, nutritional knowledge, and physical activity was conducted among 78 young football players aged 11–16 years.
Discrepancies between self-assessed knowledge and actual dietary habits indicate a need for interventions involving families and coaches.