USPORT Student Athletes’ Dietary Habits and the Impact of Various Barriers on Nutritional Intake and Health/Performance

Introduction: Collegiate athletes face unique lifestyle circumstances compared to other athletic populations that can affect their daily nutrition habits. Purpose: To understand student-athletes (SAs) dietary habits and identify barriers faced by SAs that impact food intake. Methods: Cross-sectional study using an 89-question survey. Results: Thirty percent of SAs included in this study reported not consistently eating 3 meals per day and 46% reported being hungry before going to bed. Almost 75% of SAs reported that they were not able to access high quality food on campus and 80% reported that their daily schedule limited their ability to cook and prepare meals. More than half of SAs reported worrying about running out of food due to a lack of money. Conclusion: Lack of time, financial issues, and limited access to food on campus were prevalent barriers that affected nutritional intake