International Journal of Nutrition Sciences

International Journal of Nutrition Sciences

Dietary Habits, Nutritional Knowledge and Barriers to Optimal Nutrition among University Student Athletes in Delhi NCR Region, India

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Dinesh Dagar
Jyoti Shrivastava
Garima Singh
School of Healthcare and Allied Science, Sohna Rural, Haryana, India
10.30476/ijns.2026.106933.1470
Abstract
Background: Nutritional knowledge and dietary habits are critical elements for collegiate athletes; while they can affect athletic performance and their overall health too. This study examined nutritional knowledge, dietary behaviours, and barriers to nutrition of collegiate athletes.
Methods: In a cross-sectional analysis, 200 collegiate athletes were enrolled. A structured and validated questionnaire was used to gather data on demographics, nutritional knowledge, dietary habits, and barriers to nutrition.
Results: It was shown that collegiate athletes had moderate nutritional knowledge with a significant positive correlation between nutritional knowledge and dietary habits (p=0.489, p<0.001). Conversely, barriers to nutrition could significantly impact dietary habits (p=0.020) highlighting that nutritional knowledge alone was not sufficient for adequate dietary
choices. Collegiate athletes had greater nutritional knowledge and followed healthier dietary habits. No significant differences in dietary habits as well as nutritional knowledge were observed between males and females. The commonly reported barriers to a proper nutrition were accessibility of healthy foods, lack of nutritional knowledge, time constraints, financial limitations, and taste preference emphasizing that knowledge alone was insufficient to ensure correct dietary practices.
Conclusion: The findings emphasized the importance of developing targeted strategies to enhance dietary habits by strategies like introduction of educational programs regarding sport’s nutrition. Additionally, implementing policies that can improve food accessibility, affordability and healthy food options in campus can be key dietary barriers.
Keywords
Athletes
Nutrition
Health
Dietary habits
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