Energy Balance during Taekwondo Practice in Elite Male Taekwondo Players

BACKGROUND The goal of this study was to evaluate energy expenditure and dietary intake of nutrients during Taekwondo practice in elite Korean male Taekwondo players. METHODS Elite Korean male high school (high school player: HP; n = 59) and college players (college player: CP; n = 58) wore an accelerometer to measure energy expenditure and recorded their daily dietary intake for nutritional analysis over the course of five days. RESULTS Nutritional adequacy ratios for total energy (0.82), vitamin C (0.97), calcium (0.78), and folate (0.75) were below recommended levels for all players. When comparing daily nutrient intake and energy expenditure between HP and CP, the HP group had significantly higher total calorie intake (402.7 kcal, p < 0.001), calcium (126.3 mg, p = 0.018), phosphorus (198.0 mg, p = 0.002), iron (1.3 mg, p = 0.002), and vitamin B2 (0.4 mg, p < 0.001) than the CP group. Although there was no significant difference in the estimated energy requirement during Taekwondo practice, the total energy expenditure (151.2 kcal, p = 0.001), total activity counts (130,674 counts, p = 0.038) and energy expenditure during Taekwondo practice (257.7 kcal, p < 0.001) were significantly higher in the HP than in the CP. CONCLUSION The results indicate that a sports nutrition program based on energy balance is necessary to achieve optimal health and performance in elite male Taekwondo players.