Nutritional knowledge, attitudes, and food patterns of women athletes.

Nutritional knowledge, attitudes, and food patterns of women athletes at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln were studied. Mean test scores for nutritional knowledge were higher for questions relating to "nutrition for the athlete" than to "general nutrition." Attitudes toward nutrition were generally favorable, with a positive correlation between nutritional knowledge and attitudes. Athletes who had received some form of nutrition education had higher nutritional knowledge and attitude scores than those who had not. Respondents were especially concerned with diet as it relates to weight control; those with higher knowledge scores consistently followed food patterns for weight-control diets similar to those used in training and pre-event diets.