Nutrition serves as the cornerstone of an athlete’s life, exerting a profound impact on their performance and overall well-being. To unlock their full potential, athletes must adhere to a well-balanced diet tailored to their specific nutritional needs. This approach not only enables them to achieve optimal performance levels but also facilitates efficient recovery and reduces the risk of injuries. In addition to maintaining a balanced diet, many athletes also embrace the use of nutritional supplements to complement their dietary intake and support their training goals. These supplements cover a wide range of options, addressing nutrient deficiencies, enhancing recovery, promoting muscle synthesis, boosting energy levels, and optimizing performance in their respective sports or activities. The primary objective of this narrative review is to comprehensively explore the diverse nutritional requirements that athletes face to optimize their performance, recovery, and overall well-being. Through a thorough literature search across databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus, we aim to provide evidence-based recommendations and shed light on the optimal daily intakes of carbohydrates, protein, fats, micronutrients, hydration strategies, ergogenic aids, nutritional supplements, and nutrient timing. Furthermore, our aim is to dispel common misconceptions regarding sports nutrition, providing athletes with accurate information and empowering them in their nutritional choices.

The aim of this systematic review is twofold: (i) to examine the effects of micronutrient intake on athletic performance and (ii) to determine the specific micronutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, that offer the most significant enhancements in terms of athletic performance, with the goal of providing guidance to athletes and coaches in optimizing their nutritional strategies. The study conducted a systematic search of electronic databases (i.e., PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus) using keywords pertaining to micronutrients, athletic performance, and exercise. The search involved particular criteria of studies published in English between 1950 and 2023. The findings suggest that vitamins and minerals are crucial for an athlete’s health and physical performance, and no single micronutrient is more important than others. Micronutrients are necessary for optimal metabolic body’s functions such as energy production, muscle growth, and recovery, which are all important for sport performance. Meeting the daily intake requirement of micronutrients is essential for athletes, and while a balanced diet that includes healthy lean protein sources, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables is generally sufficient, athletes who are unable to meet their micronutrient needs due to malabsorption or specific deficiencies may benefit from taking multivitamin supplements. However, athletes should only take micronutrient supplements with the consultation of a specialized physician or nutritionist and avoid taking them without confirming a deficiency.

The aim is to evaluate the effects of frying and roasting on nuts. Frying and roasting were performed according to the local Jordanian home-made cuisine, and the nuts under experiment were raw almonds, pine, cashew, and pistachio. Nuts samples were roasted at 110°C for 16 minutes and fried at 175°C for 2.5 minutes. The results show that both roasting and frying of nuts did not affect the flavonoids content except for roasted pistachios where significant rise of flavonoids content was detected. Total phenolic content showed no significant differences except for pine nuts in which it increased significantly in both roasting and frying. Oxidative stability, presented by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH), was significantly different in all nuts except for pistachio nuts that have shown no differences. Fatty acids profile, presented by saturated fatty acids (SFA), oleic acid (OL), and essential fatty acids (EFA), was affected significantly by roasting and frying, especially for SFA in almonds and pine nuts andα-linoleic acid (ALA) contents of pine. In conclusion, the effects of roasting and frying on the aforementioned nuts species were positive for fatty acids profile and antioxidants activity.

Objective: Estimate the prevalence, and associated risk factors, of high school students who are considered at risk for an eating disorder based on screening measures. Methods: An electronic search of nine databases was completed from their inception until 1st September 2022. A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted, and confounder (moderator) analyses and meta-regressions examined whether the overall prevalence estimate for of screen-based disordered eating (SBDE) was moderated by student age, BMI, or gender, as well as culture and type of SBDE assessment. Results: The mean estimate of the prevalence of SBDE among high school students (K = 42 (66 datapoints), N = 56282] in the sample of 25 countries was 13% ([95% CI] = 10.0–16.8%, I² = 99.0%, Cochran's Q p = 0.001). This effect was not moderated by features of the samples such as gender, BMI, or age. Among cultures, non-Western countries had a higher prevalence of SBDE prevalence than Western countries, but the difference was not significant. There was considerable variability in the prevalence estimates as a function of the assessment measure, but no meaningful pattern emerged. Conclusion: The estimated figure of 1 in 8 high school students with SBDE—unmoderated by gender and BMI—stands out as a problem in need of attention from public health officials, psychologists, psychiatrists, pediatricians, parents, and educators. There is a great need for innovative, integrated policy and program development all along the spectrum of health promotion and universal, selective, and indicated prevention. Further research is also needed to validate and refine this estimate by (a) conducting basic research on the accuracy of eating disorder screening measurements in samples ages 14 through 17; (b) examining representative samples in more countries in general and Latin American countries in particular; (c) clarifying the relationships between SBDE and age throughout the different phases of late childhood, adolescence, and emerging adulthood; and (d) investigating whether there are meaningful forms of disordered eating and whether these are associated with variables such as gender, ethnicity, and BMI.

The Big Five Inventory (BFI) is a popular measure that evaluates personality on the Big-Five model. Apart from its utilization across cultures, the literature did not reveal any meta-analysis for the reliability of the different versions of the BFI and its translations. The current study carried out a reliability generalization meta-analysis (REGEMA) to establish the reliability of the BFI across cultures and languages. We searched 30 databases for the relevant studies from 1991 to mid-November 2024. The studies that we intended to include in our meta-analysis required to have utilized the BFI (44 items) and the BFI-2 (60 items) and have reported Cronbach's alpha or McDonald's omega reliability estimates. Our coded variables included BFI version, sample size, population type, age, gender, clinical state, and reliability. A total of 57 studies (datapoints) published in 34 research articles (involving 43,715 participants; 60.24% women; Mean age = 30.08) from various cultures and languages were finally included. These studies used BFI and BFI-2 in Arabic, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Swahili, and Turkish. Data analysis was conducted using the metafor and meta packages in R. The average correlation was computed using a random-effects model and reliability coefficients indicated effect size. I2 and Cochran's Q tests were used to examine heterogeneity, with prediction intervals suggesting genuine influences around the pooled estimate. Using funnel plots, regression-based tests (e.g., Egger's regression, rank correlation), and trim-and-fill imputation, publication bias was adjusted to estimate unbiased effects. We calculated the individual and combined reliability of the BFI and BFI-2 across languages and cultures. The results revealed the reliability of all five factors used in the BFI/BFI-2. The BFI estimates provide the following results: openness is estimated at 0.77 (95% CI: 0.75; 0.80); conscientiousness is estimated at 0.80 (95% CI: 0.78; 0.82); extraversion is also estimated at 0.80 (95% CI: 0.79; 0.82); agreeableness is estimated at 0.73 (95% CI: 0.71; 0.76); and neuroticism is estimated at 0.80 (95% CI: 0.79; 0.82). The BFI-2 estimates are as follows: openness is estimated at 0.83 (95% CI: 0.82; 0.84); conscientiousness is estimated at 0.86 (95% CI: 0.85; 0.87); extraversion is estimated at 0.85 (95% CI: 0.84; 0.86); agreeableness is also estimated at 0.80 (95% CI: 0.79; 81); and neuroticism is estimated at 0.89 (95% CI: 0.88; 0.89). The current meta-analysis represents the first reliability analysis of the BFI and the first comparison between its two different versions, the BFI (44 items) and the BFI-2 (60 items). The generalized reliability of both the BFI and BFI-2 were established. The findings confirm that the BFI and BFI-2 have good reliability across all five factors.