Abstract

Physical activity is nowadays necessary because sedentary life prevents us from exercising all the muscles of our body. This is why a growing number of people have begun to practice every kinds of sports. In our opinion physical exercise is not always accompanied by adequate nutrition. To assess the correctness or our supposition we contacted and asked 52 (30 males and 22 females) amateur athletes, practising different disciplines, to record their real consumption of food over a seven-day period. Some of them (32) agreed to submit to an anthropometric survey, their job commitments permitting. The results of the study showed that caloric and nutrient intake is always underestimated and that no method was adapted to obtain an adequate result both as concerns physical fitness and athletic performance. This finding shows once again that those practising sports do not care as much about their nutritional needs as they do about their physical appearance. Verf.-Referat