EFFECT OF 8 WEEKS NUTRITION EDUCATION PROGRAM ON KNOWLEDGE OF SPORT NUTRITION, SELECTED DIETARY INTAKE AND BODY COMPOSITION AMONG JUNIOR INTERNATIONAL TAEKWONDO ATHLETES IN CASE OF WESTERN GUJI ZONE BULE HORA TOWN, OROMIA REGIONAL STATE

Abstract

In Ethiopia many adolescent athletes’ choice foods based on their family socio economic status and on their feeling without any nutritional knowledge or nutritional advice. This study was therefore designed to assess the effect of 8 weeks nutrition education program on knowledge of sport nutrition, selected dietary intake and body composition among junior international taekwondo athletes in Western Guji Zone Bule Hora Town, Oromia Regional State. Nutrition knowledge, dietary intake and body composition were measured before and after an eight weeks nutrition education program. In this study the researcher used single group research design. The Stratified simple random sampling method was employed to select the samples from the population. The subjects of this study were 30 junior international taekwondo athletes aged 16-19 years old, of this 15 were males and the rest 15 were females. In order to collect the adequate and reliable data the researcher used questioners (Closed-ended) and body composition measurement. The data has been analyzed using SPSS version 20. As a result of the nutrition education program, nutrition knowledge of the athletes improved from 2.32 to 2.95 of mean score (p=0.011), fruit and vegetable intake improved from 2.26 to 3.34 of mean score (p=0.0001), fluid intake was improved from 1.83 to 2.83 of mean score (p=0.001), and athletes body composition was improved from 19.95 to 20.04 of mean score (p=0.369). The present study suggests that a nutrition education program can improve knowledge of sport nutrition, dietary intake and body composition among junior international taekwondo athletes. Therefore, Nutrition Education should have to be incorporated into training activities of international taekwondo athletes