Correlations between somatotypes and nutritional intake in sports students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12697/poa.2014.23.2.09Keywords:
somatotypes, nutritional intake, sports anthropology, correlationsAbstract
This explorative control study investigates the correlations between nutritional intake (macronutrient) and somatotypes and other body constitutional types in 94 sports students (40♂, 54♀, the age span 20–46 years). Anthropometric data and computed constitutional and somatotypical parameters correspond to international standards. Nutrient intakes were estimated by the use of 3-day dietary recall records.
Correlations between individual somatotypes or constitutional types after Conrad or Knussmann and the nutritional intake in the physical education students collective were generally weak, with only a few significant relationships identified:
For female physical education students, there are significant inverse relationships between body fat and protein (r=–0.4, p≤0.01) and carbohydrate intake (r=–0.3, p≤0.01), between BMI and protein (r=–0.3, p≤0.01), fat (r=–0.3, p≤0.05), carbohydrate (r=–0.2, p≤0.05) and energy (r=–0.3, p≤0.05) intake as well between endomorphy and protein (r=–0.4, p≤0.01 Parnell; r=–0.3, p≤0.01 Heath/Carter) and carbohydrate intake (r=–0.2, p≤0.05 Parnell; r=–0.4, p≤0.01 Heath/Carter), between mesomorphy and fat (r=–0.3, p≤0.05 Heath/Carter), carbohydrate (r=–0.3, p≤0.05 Heath/Carter) and energy intake (r=–0.3, p≤0.01 Heath/Carter, r=–0.3, p≤0.05 Parnell). Positive relationships exist between the ectomorphy and protein (r=0.2, p≤0.05 Parnell; r=0.3, p≤0.05 Heath/Carter), fat (r=0.3, p≤0.01 Heath/Carter) and energy (r=0.2, p≤0.05) intake.
For the male physical education students, there are significant inverse relationships between body fat and protein (r=–0.4, p≤0.01) as well as fat (r=–0.4, p≤0.01), carbohydrate (r=–0.3, p≤0.05) and energy intake (r=–0.4, p≤0.01), between BMI and fat (r=–0.4, p≤0.01) and energy intake (r=–0.3, p≤0.05) as well as between endomorphy and protein (r=–0.3, p≤0.05 Parnell and Heath/Carter), fat (r=–0.4, p≤0.01, Parnell and Heath/Carter) carbohydrate intake (r=–0.3, p≤0.05 Heath/Carter) and energy intake (r=–0.3, p≤0.05 Parnell; r=–0.4, p≤0.01 Heath/Carter), mesomorphy (Heath/Carter) and fat (r=–0.4, p≤0.01), carbohydrate (r=–0.3, p≤0.05) and energy intake (r=–0.3, p≤0.01), between pyknomorphy and fat intake (r=–0.3, p≤0.05) and energy intake
Positive relationships exist between the ectomorphy (Parnell and Heath/Carter) and fat intake (r=0.4 and r=0.4, p≤0.05) as well as between Metrik- Index and fat intake (r=0.3, p≤0.05). The results indicate that differences may exist between the sexes in these correlations. Further follow-up studies are necessary to clarify these issues.