STUDY OF STUDENT ENERGY CONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDITURES; Case Study Survey Conducted among University Students of Burundi Sport Nutrition Balance

Abstract

Background: Nutrition enhances athletic performance. An active lifestyle and exercise routine, along with eating well, is the best way to stay healthy. Eating a good diet can help provide the energy needed to work, or just enjoy a casual sport or activity.

The purpose: of this research was to assess the eating habits quantitatively and qualitatively, and to estimate the related energy expenditure of the internal students of the University of Burundi (UB) in general physical education and sports (PES) students faced to their daily activities.

The research method: this was quasi-experimental research with quantitative and qualitative approaches. Data collection using measurement of the daily food during 7 days. Data were analyzed using SPSS and standards ANC.

The result showed that the evaluation of the different activities showed that the expenditure of all PES students was higher (1820,26 kcal) compared to the institutes and faculties without sports training (1520,13Kcal).The comparative analysis showed that the energy intakes were close in the two groups with respectively an intake of 1986.99±131.72 kcal /day among all IPES students and 2004.31±96.22 kcal /day in students from other institutes or faculties, but these intake waslower compared to the standards of ANC which recommends an average intake of 2700 kcal /day in men and 2000 in women.

Conclusion nutrition is important for athletes because it provides a source of energy required to perform the activity. The food has an impact on the strength, training, performance and recovery.