Nutritional Regrets and Knowledge in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Athletes: Establishing a Foundation for Educational Interventions

The aim of this study was to describe the nutritional regrets and sport nutrition knowledge of Division I NCAA athletes and determine if higher knowledge would be related to fewer regrets. Additionally, we explored whether differences would emerge on nutrition knowledge or nutritional regrets based on gender or year in school. This was a cross-sectional, questionnairebased study conducted during the spring and summer of 2015. A total of 196 Division I NCAA student-athletes (145 male and 51 female) from a single university completed a questionnaire at the end of their competitive season. Comparisons on nutrition-related regrets and sport nutrition knowledge were conducted using Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests. A Spearman’s rho correlation was used to examine the relationship between nutrition-related regrets and sports nutrition knowledge. Most student-athletes possessed regrets related to their eating habits, with few regretting weight management practices. Total nutritional regrets were higher in females than males, but did not differ significantly by school level. There was no significant association between nutritional knowledge and regrets. Interventions that incorporate education, strategies that increase dietary choice self-efficacy, and goal-setting may prove to be more efficacious in minimizing regrets in nutrition-related decision-making.