by Paris – Like many other athletes, Justin Phongsavanh has an attitude towards the chocolate muffins at the Paralympic Village.
“It doesn’t get much better than that,” said Phongsavanh, a United States Paralympian and sitting javelin bronze medalist. However, Phongsavanh and other Paralympians cannot survive on muffins alone. They and their diet teams face complex challenges, but scientists and athletic personnel are crafting their own solutions even as research lags behind.
The biggest challenge with a para-nutrition strategy is that the needs of athletes vary greatly, not only on their sport, but on their disabilities and other underlying conditions, said applied sports nutrition scientist Joëlle Leonie Fluck.
“Types of disabilities are so different in terms of nutritional needs and requirements, but also medically,” said Flück, who also serves as president of the Swiss Sports Nutrition Association. “There are many things to consider, such as energy expenditure, which can be completely different from individual to individual, or from disability to disability.”
For example, a wheelchair basketball player with full range of motion of the arms may need very different fueling strategies, Flück said, than a quadriplegic wheelchair rugby player.
Specific requirements
All athletes have unique nutritional needs, but athletes’ disabilities and underlying conditions complicate the strategy. Gastrointestinal issues are especially common among para-athletes due to fiber deficiencies, high sodium levels and even a sensitivity to spices.
At Team USA’s High Performance Center, in Eaubonne, just north of Paris, nutrition director Brian Knutson and dietitian Hilary Kave said many meals are taken “straight from Colorado Springs,” the site of the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s training center and where live on. many Paralympic athletes. American supplements and snacks are shipped, and fresh ingredients are purchased locally.
“We know there are certain athletes who like to do things a certain way,” Knutson said. “For us, that just gives us a little edge. Because of that experience, home and comfort, it makes their life easier.”
Para triathlete Allysa Seely said she and her teammates eat most of their meals at the HPC in Eaubonne, for exactly that reason.
“We know the chefs, we know the food, the recipes, the menu, we know that much,” said Seely, who earned a bronze medal in the women’s PTS2 classification, which is on athletes with coordination challenges. “It’s something we’re comfortable and confident in.”
But gastrointestinal problems are only one aspect of a para-athletic nutrition strategy. Andrew Shepherd offers workshops, consultations and other services to athletes and para-athletes at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom.
Shepherd said para-athletes sometimes have particular problems staying hydrated. For example, those with spinal cord injuries may find it difficult to regulate their body temperature. Shepherd said nutrition teams implement more cooling strategies for Paralympics than they do for the Olympics, including an increase in “ice vests, ice packs, cold slushies.”
Bring accessibility to the dining hall
Accessibility is just a conversation about lifts and ramps. Certain methods of food delivery can cause problems for para-athletes. Self-service buffets often interfere with food for wheelchair users and people of limited stature.
Shepherd said small changes, such as providing boxes and bowls that are slanted forward, can make all the difference.
“They’re simple things, but he’s consistently looking at them and doing them, making sure we’re doing equity rather than equality,” Shepherd said. “It’s really important for them to be able to be full users of that space.”
At the USOPC center, Kave said the nutrition team serves many different disabilities. Self-service food is placed at a lower height so that everyone can reach it. Registered dietitians can make plates for visually impaired athletes.
Delivery is not always a matter of physical space. Neuro-discriminative athletes can be sensitive to food textures and mixes, so Shepherd said the team at Loughborough caters to those concerns as well.
Missing learning
Kave, Shepherd and others say their work helping Paralympians get the most out of their meals takes place in the context of a larger social issue: Many disabled and non-disabled people don’t know about diets healthy.
This means that the main challenge for dietitians working with para-athletes is not only to familiarize themselves with each athlete and their individual needs, but also to teach athletes to approach nutrition as a life skill .
“The more you absorb, the better it will be when you’re off and being kind to yourself,” Kave said. “At that point when you stop being that athlete, maybe you’re not in the competitive arena anymore, I want you to have that knowledge so you can continue.”
Para triathlete Seely said her current nutrition team is relatively new, but previously, she worked with the same nutritionist for seven years.
“I still go back to our notes, our references and use all that information almost every day to be able to advocate for myself with my newer staff,” Seely said. “Without that dietitian, everything I have achieved and everything I know to this day would not have been possible.”
A Paralympic army is marching on his stomach
The United States sent an army of registered eating and dietitian staff from their training center in Colorado Springs to the Paralympics. Some countries, such as Japan, gave none. The difference in approach reflects the fact that scientists do not know enough about the physiological and health needs of Paralympics to create best practices to meet all athletes and classifications. Currently, most Paralympians’ nutritional challenges are addressed on a case-by-case basis.
“We have no clue about encouraging strategies for types of disability; we just use the general guidelines from talented people and try to adapt them a little,” said Flück, the Swiss nutrition scientist. “A lot of research is really needed.”
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Julianna Russ is a student in the undergraduate certificate program at the Carmical Sports Media Institute, University of Georgia.
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