Benjamin Roettjer

Critical Evaluation

FN 212

4/12/20

Gilis, J. T., Anderson, D. L., Morgan, A. L., & Hamady, C. M. (2014, October 13). Nutrition

knowledge and interest of collegiate athletes at a division I university. Journal of Food

and Nutrition, 1(203), 1-7. Retrieved from

http://www.jscholaronline.org/articles/JFN/Nutrition-Knowledge-and-Interest-of-

Collegiate-Athletes-at-a-Division-I-University.pdf

Student Abstract

This study was performed with the goal in mind of discovering what nutritional

knowledge college athletes would be most interested in learning, and what nutrition education

would be most beneficial. A survey was given to the participants that had questions related to

nutrition, team played for, year of school, and what nutrition classes the individual had taken.

The study found out that out of all teams at the college the women’s volleyball team scored the

highest on the nutrition survey, and the men’s football and basketball teams scored the lowest. It

also found that overall female participants scored higher than the male participants. The study

did not find any correlation between school year or classes taken and nutritional knowledge. This

study concluded that student athletes need more nutrition education to fully understand the

impact of nutrition on athletic performance, and that college athletes often seek out and can

greatly benefit from the services of a registered dietician.

Evaluate the Title

This title clearly states what the article is about, but it is a little bit more lengthy than

ideal. It contains what is being studied, who is being studied and to some extent where as well.

The title does not include any results from the research and is unclear on the specifics of the

study. However, it does do a good job of giving the reader a proper understanding of the main

content in the article.

Abstract

This abstract of this article intrigues the reader to continue reading. It clearly states the

three reasons for why the study was conducted. It explains who participated in the study, and a

fairly in depth description of how the study was executed. The abstract also clearly lays out the

results that were found in this study. It has some specific results that the authors found

interesting or did not necessarily expect as well. The abstract section ends by wrapping up the

findings of the study and offering a solution for how student-athletes can better understand how

nutrition pertains to their athletic performance and overall health.

Introduction

The purpose of this study is to understand why and in what ways athletes are struggling

with understanding nutrition, and to find ways to further help them gain a better understanding of

how better nutrition knowledge can help them. This purpose is stated clearly at the beginning of,

and alluded to it multiple times again throughout the introduction section. It also clearly states

problems that can occur when athletes aren’t consuming the proper amounts and types of

nutrients they need. Preexisting knowledge of athletes lacking desired nutrition education is

presented, and it’s explained that few studies have taken place to look into why this is the case.
The introduction clearly lays out the negative effect poor nutrition knowledge can have on an

athlete’s performance as well as their health, which is why this study is so important. This

introduction is clearly written and organized in an effective way, laying out preexisting

knowledge, the problem, possible solutions, and how the study was conducted.

Literature Review

The research review section of this article is pretty scarce. In the introduction they briefly

talk about studies and papers about how most college athletes don’t fully understand their

nutritional needs including a report by NCAA. It doesn’t go very in depth on the other studies

findings further than just stating college athletes lack valuable nutritional knowledge. The

literature cited is current and credible. This study does address the fact that not many studies

have identified what information specifically most athletes are missing. The section goes on

further to establish discovering this as an objective of the research.

Research Question/Hypothesis/Objective

The goals of the study are clearly stated as determining the difference in nutrition

knowledge across different sports, gender, and academic year, finding how nutritional interest is

different among sports and gender, and how perceived nutritional knowledge varies from actual

nutritional knowledge. There is no hypothesis given for this study, as it is an observational study.

The whole paper is centered around the research question and it is evident throughout the whole

thing what the goals of the study are. The research is conducted in a very ethical way, not asking

these athletes to change any of their nutritional habits, and instead just observes what they know

about their nutrition and how they currently handle their nutritional needs.

Methodology
 This study contained a survey of 319 student-athletes from 17 different intercollegiate

teams at a NCAA division 1 University. A paper survey of several multiple choice questions

pertaining to nutrition was given to the participants. Of the athletes surveyed 98 were in their

first year, 98 were in their second year, 78 were in their third year, 40 were in their fourth year,

three were in their fifth year or more. About 57% of the student-athlete participants were male,

and about 43% were female. Participants joined on a voluntary basis. Consent to be used in the

study was received from both the individuals and their coaches. The survey contained 18

questions that were multiple choice or ranking. The questions asked about nutrition knowledge,

nutrition topics of interest, nutrition education preferences, projected registered dietitian use,

participating sport, gender, and academic year.

After the surveys were completed and returned by the student athletes they were analyzed

for correlation between perceived and actual nutrition knowledge. A two-sample T-test was

utilized to find the effect nutrition courses had on the student’s nutrition knowledge. ANOVA

tests were used to find the differences between sports for nutrition knowledge, registered

dietician use, and nutrition coursework. Tukey post-hoc analysis was used to determine statistical

significance between the different groups studied and was set at p < 0.05.

Results

The results are stated in a matter of fact manner keeping out any opinions, or

interpretation at first. The results do directly relate to answering the study questions presented

throughout the article. Results found in the study were that out of the 14 nutrition related

questions on the survey the highest score by a single student was 12 correct. It was also found

that the woman’s gymnastics team scored the highest on the nutrition portion of the survey, and

the men’s football and basketball teams scored the lowest. As a whole the female athletes
demonstrated a higher knowledge in nutrition than male athletes. The study did not find a

correlation between nutrition knowledge and year or school, or a correlation between knowledge

the athletes demonstrated and nutrition courses taken. It was found through the survey that male

athletes were more likely to utilize the services of a registered dietician than female athletes

were. The nutrition topics of the highest level of interest for females were pre- and post-workout

meals, cheap and healthy meals, safe and healthy weight loss, whereas for the male athletes they

were sports drinks, pre- and post-workout meals, and muscle building. The tables provide a lot of

in depth information about the study with simple captions to help the reader understand. The

statistics are laid out clearly, and are easy for the reader to understand the significance of the data

to the conclusions.

Assessment of Figure 1

Figure 1 in the article is a simple pie chart used to represent how often the student

athletes surveyed would use a registered dietician over the course of a week. Though simple the

chart is very useful in providing an illustration of the findings. It paints a clear picture of how

student athletes utilize access to a registered dietician.

Discussion

The discussion section restates the conclusions that the study found. This section also

explains the significance of the findings of the research. It says that the information gained in the

study can be used for planning of future nutrition education among college student athletes. The

discussion does refer back to the literature review section in that it once again states that while

it’s known that student athletes don’t have a full knowledge of nutrition, not many studies have

been conducted to find specifics, but that this study did dive deeper into specifics of the issue.
The discussion section also contains limitations the study had, mainly that only one school was

surveyed in the study.

Conclusion

The main conclusion of this research is that education can be better used to help athletes

fully understand how nutrition affects their health and athletic performance. The problem of

student athletes lacking nutritional knowledge is restated, with better education as the answer.

The procedure and findings are briefly summarized, re-emphasizing the main findings of the

study. Findings presented in the conclusion are consistent with the rest of the article.

Implications from the research are that nutrition education should be tailored more specifically

per sport/gender and nutrition interests that student athletes have to better tailor nutrition

education to that population. Another implication from this study is that many student athletes

would utilize the services of a registered dietician if readily available.

References

Most of the article comes the results of the original research of the study. Fifteen sources

are cited in the use of the article. Eleven of the fifteen sources were published more than five

years before the article, and of those, three of them were published ten years before the article

was. These references are mostly peer-reviewed and appear to be from credible sources.

My Conclusion

The main findings of this research are that student athletes need more nutritional

education, especially male athletes, that male athletes are more likely to utilize an available

registered dietician than female athletes, and that there was not any significant difference in

nutritional knowledge among nutritional classes having been taken. These findings indicate that
a greater effort should go into educating athletes about nutrition. It also indicates that the

education should be specifically tailored for each team, based off of the finding that education

knowledge varied among the different teams. Furthermore, this research showed that nutrition

classes taken by these student athletes did not give them more nutrition knowledge than those

who had not attended such classes. This indicates that these classes were not very effective and

maybe should be re-structured to have a greater impact.

This article taught me that there is a big need for better nutrition education among student

athletes. It did not come as a surprise that nutrition knowledge varied among teams, but it was a

surprise that nutrition courses taken did not seem to impact nutrition knowledge possessed by the

student. Following the critical evaluation steps taught me how to look more in depth, and

actually analyze all parts of paper. It made me think more about the content, and the structure of

the article itself than I otherwise normally would have.

Application

As a fairly active person the information in this article is useful to understand that more

about nutrition can be learned and can lead to optimal physical performance. As someone going

into the profession of dietetics this article can be a useful reminder of how much nutritional

knowledge is lacking especially among student athletes. It can also serve as an eye opener as to

how many student athletes seek the service of a registered dietician. This article would be a good

reminder to dieticians of how much their services are needed, and of how many misconceptions

there is about nutrition out there.