Qualitative evaluation by resident sportspeople of the nutritional offer at the car of Sierra Nevada

The nutritional control of sportspeople is especially important during training at altitude. For this reason, the CAR of Sierra Nevada pays special attention to research into sports nutrition in collaboration with the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences (UGR). One such Project was to determine the personal evaluation by each resident sportsperson of the nutritional offer at the Centre. On an anonymous form, each participant rated (0-10 scale) the variety, quality and quantity of the food offered at breakfast, lunch and dinner. SPSS 15.0 software was used for the statistical analysis. A mean of 7.5(SD:0.8) was obtained for quantity, 9.6(SD:0.1) for quality and 8.9(SD:0.2) for variety. Results were classified as poor (≤5), medium (6-8) or good (≥9). Breakfast received lowest score for quantity, considered poor by 21% of participants. Lunch received the best evaluation (≥9 by > 95%). The quantity of food offered by the CAR of Sierra Nevada does not appear to be a problem, because resident sportspeople can eat as much as they want and can repeat any dish. The same percentage of respondents (22%) considered the variety of food to be poor at breakfast. Although this is a preliminary study, the quality and variety of foods offered at the different meals of the day (breakfast, lunch, dinner) should be reconsidered. A more exhaustive study is warranted to determine the opinion of resident sportspeople and improve the provision of foods.