Goals and objectives of sports nutrition

Now we can confidently talk about the emergence of sports nutrition - a new multidisciplinary approach that combines elements of physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology and sports pedagogy. The effectiveness and expediency of using biologically active substances and specialized nutritional supplements to optimize the functional state of athletes is determined by the solution of the following tasks:

• increasing the general and special performance of athletes;

• acceleration of recovery and prevention and overstrain of the body after exercise;

• Acceleration of climate zone adaptation and normalization of biological rhythms when moving over long distances (including with a shift in clock time);

• stabilization of athletes' immunity and prevention of secondary (sports) immunodeficiencies;

• regulation of body weight (both in terms of increase and decrease);

• maintenance of an optimal regime of hydration and exchange of essential minerals.

Back at the turn of the 70s and 80s, the main provisions were formulated that determine the possibilities of using biologically active substances in sports:

1. Anti-doping principle. The specifics of sports activity determines the ban on the use of any means and methods of nutrition that are included in the list of doping.

2. The principle of subordination of the solution of pedagogical (training or competitive) and biomedical tasks in the general structure of the training of athletes. Target, stage and current tasks of the training and competitive process determine the choice of specific means and methods of specialized nutrition and the formation of appropriate programs designed to solve these problems.

3. The principle of the combined use of biologically active substances based on feedback. With the simultaneous appointment of several biologically active and food additives, their number should not exceed four, and it is necessary to take into account the synergistic effect of individual additives on the athlete's body.

The general trend of the last decade in the development of sports nutrition is the rejection of potent medicinal substances and the transition to a comprehensive rational nutrition system with the inclusion of natural foods. additives and substrate products. Therefore, it is now customary to talk not about sports pharmacology, but about specialized sports nutrition. Instead of the terms "drug" or "pharmaceutical preparation", respectively, "dietary supplement or BAD" is used.

Based on the principles postulated above, a protocol consisting of three stages was justified and developed for the introduction of effective biologically active substances into the practice of sports medicine. Such a protocol includes the examination of any specialized product or preparation for nutrition in three areas:

• verification of the official certification of the investigational product or preparation in the country and abroad;

• anti-doping expertise for all lines of testing for doping activity;

• conclusion about the effectiveness of the product or additive in comparison with existing analogues.

Means and methods of sports nutrition

Specialized sports nutrition has its own means and methods and can be organized at several levels.

The first level is preparatory, the essence of which is to create an optimal state of the body for the assimilation of food substrates and supplements. Activities of the first level are carried out with the help of “cleansing the body”. In the modern sense, cleansing the body is a complex of nutritional and physiotherapeutic procedures carried out over several days against the background of a course of hepatoprotectors and choleretic agents. The need for it is determined by the leading role of a particular liver overstrain syndrome in violation of the functional state of athletes. This procedure provides effective prevention and correction of hepatic pain syndrome, and in general, maintaining the optimal level of recovery of the body of athletes after training and competitive loads.

According to the volume and intensity of liver restoration, there are current cleansings (restorative microcycles) and in-depth cleansings (between semi-annual preparation cycles). Depending on the state of the body, biochemical parameters of blood, hormonal levels, etc. the total duration of deep cleaning can be up to 15 days.

The second level of sports nutrition is a rationally organized the daily ration of the main nutrition of an athlete, calculated on the principle of reimbursement of the body's energy costs for the performance of certain physical activities. An important element of the basic diet of an athlete is to maintain an optimal balance of fluid and minerals in the body.

Catering at the first and second levels is a prerequisite for the use of means and methods of sports nutrition at the third and fourth levels.

The third level of sports nutrition includes the use of specialized nutritional supplements, which, in essence, are concentrates of nutrients that make up the main diet, namely proteins, fats, carbohydrates, etc. Therefore, such supplements are called substrate nutritional supplements (SDS). These include the following types of supplements: protein, carbohydrate, mixed protein-carbohydrate, creatine, carnitine, as well as vitamin-mineral complexes.

This level of nutrition also includes meal replacements and fat-burning substances that are used to regulate body weight. The most widely used additives are microcellulose, pyruvate-based, fat-mobilizing, as well as combined preparations containing L-carnitine and some other substances.

Finally, the fourth level of sports nutrition includes the use of biologically active additives proper, which have a directed effect on certain physiological functions of the athlete's body, certain metabolic processes. An original version of the general classification of substrate and biologically active food additives, which are used at the third and fourth levels of sports nutrition, respectively, is proposed:

1. hepatoprotectors and choleretic agents that have a stabilizing and restorative effect on liver cells (Essentiale, Heptral) and / or a choleretic effect (karsil, legalen, garlic-based supplements).

2. vitamin and mineral complexes (containing more than 100% of the recommended daily requirement of vitamins and microelements).

3. adaptogens: vegetable (ginseng, eleutherococcus, Chinese magnolia vine, leuzea, etc.); . systemic (semax, melatonin).

4. immunomodulators: waste products of bees (honey, pollen, royal jelly, propolis, etc.) and drugs based on them, combined adaptogens (politabs, cernelton, elton, leveton), polyenzymatic systems (wobenzym, phlogenzym), chemicals of various nature (T-activin, levamisole, cytokines) and some others.

5. Anabolic agents ((3-eudisterones, tribulus, nucleotides).

6. Antioxidants (selenium, iron).

Nutritional Supplements and Athlete Recovery

The practical implementation of recovery measures in the above areas and the management of the recovery process of athletes are based on several important principles that constitute the actual technology of using specialized nutrition to accelerate recovery.

1. The principle of the complexity of recovery is the rationale for varying and combining various restorative means and methods at all stages of the annual cycle of training athletes.

2. The principle of "dosage" of restoration determines the tactics of using restorative agents in accordance with the structure of the athlete's training (S.N. Portugalov, et al., 2002). The volume and intensity of recovery measures increase towards the end of the micro- and mesocycle, reaching its maximum level on days of rest and unloading microcycles. The application of this principle in practice ensures the maintenance of an optimal balance between the processes of fatigue and recovery as a result of the impact of loads on the athlete's body.

3. The need for periodic and regular monitoring of the functional state of the athlete. The content of an individual recovery program, the volume and intensity of recovery activities are determined by that particular overstrain syndrome that becomes the leading one for a given athlete at a given period of time in the structure of the training or competitive process.

In the modern version, the system for monitoring the functional state of an athlete includes several methods that allow you to adequately assess the current level of adaptation of the main systems of the athlete's body to various training and competitive loads (Figure 1).

In practice, the picture of overstrain in each athlete is determined by one or more particular syndromes, which are specific reaction of a given organism and become leading in the formation of an individual functional state of an athlete. Therefore, regular and periodic monitoring of the athlete's functional state using the methods listed above (for example, as part of a staged comprehensive examination) makes it possible to choose the most rational way to use various means and methods of sports nutrition to accelerate recovery after exercise.

Thus, the practical application of the technological principles formulated above makes it possible to develop an individual algorithm for the program of recovery, prevention and correction of overvoltage, taking into account all the specific features of the impact of training and competitive loads on the body of a particular athlete.

Nutritional supplements and accelerating adaptation processes

Despite the long-term practice of holding training camps and competitions at considerable distances from the region of permanent residence, the problem of optimal acclimatization of the body of athletes (both in terms of timing and in terms of the final effect) remains very topical.

Fig 1. System for monitoring the functional state of the athlete's body

The structure of changes in the body after moving over considerable distances (we are talking about several time zones) is as follows:

• acute desynchronosis, ie. acute physiological response to time shift. First of all, it manifests itself in sleep disorders with all the ensuing pathological consequences, which can last up to 5-8 days;

• violations of biological rhythms of functioning (for example, the daily regimen of hormone production and other regulators in the body). The duration of these disorders can also reach 7-10 days.

Usually, acclimatization issues are resolved by organizational means (terms of departure to the venue of the event, organization of the training and rest regimen for athletes at the final pre-competitive stage, etc.). Practice shows that this approach is not completely effective.

The proposed acclimatization acceleration method includes the use of a complex of non-doping food additives that have a positive effect on both of these pathological processes (desynchronosis and disturbances of biological rhythms): melatonin, amino acid complexes, a complex of plant adaptogens (such as ginseng, eleutherococcus, leuzea, etc.).

The experimental data we have