THE ALIMENTATION ESTIMATE OF THE YOUNG ATHLETES BASED ON BMI

NUTRITION IN TOP ATHLETES

THE  ALIMENTATION ESTIMATE OF THE YOUNG ATHLETES BASED ON BMI

Mihailović Jelena, Zlatković Jovan, Antić Nebojša, Đorđević - Šaranović Slavica, Đavolović Brankica,  Plavšić Jadranka
Republic Institute of Sport, Belgrade, Serbia
 
The aim of this paper is to give estimate of alimentation of the young athletes. The study was conducted upon the group of 150 children ranging from 13 to 15 years of age, as a part of the regular medical examinations in the Repbulic Institute of Sport. The examinees (children) were taken from three different sport diciplines – basketball (as a member of the group of Sports Games), swimming (a member of group of Endurance Sports) and judo (a member of Martial Arts group).
Alimentation examination of the examinees was carried out, based on the Body Mass Index (BMI), which is proven as an adequate basic indicator of the state of alimentation among children and teenagers. For both groups, the BMI is sex- and age- dependent. After BMI is calculated for teens, the BMI number is plotted on the CDC BMI – for – age charts (for either girls and boys) to obtain a percentile ranking. The percentile indicates the relative position of the child’s BMI number among children of the same age and sex. Obtained BMI values, were found to be ranging from 15.5 to 27.0 kg/m2 - with the average of 18 kg/m2.
US Center for Disease Control and Prevention data tables were used as a reference.
KEY WORDS: BMI, alimentation estimate, young athletes.