The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND), Dietitians of Canada (DC), and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) have released a joint position statement to provide the current energy, nutrient, and fluid recommendations for active adults and competitive athletes.

The paper outlined four key themes related to nutrition and athletic performance, which are:

1. Nutrition for athlete preparation
2. Performance nutrition: strategies to optimize performance and recovery for competition and key training sessions
3. Special populations and environments
4. Roles and responsibilities of the sports dietitian

The evidence presented in the position paper is summarized as follows:

• Athletes need to consume energy that is adequate in amount and timing of intake during periods of high-intensity and/or long duration training
• The primary goal of the training diet is to provide nutritional support to allow the athlete to stay healthy and injury-free while maximizing the functional and metabolic adaptations to a periodized exercise program
• The optimal physique, including body size, shape and composition depends upon the sex, age, and heredity of the athlete, and may be sport- and event-specific.
• Recommendations for carbohydrate intake typically range from 3–10 g/kg BW/d (and up to 12 g/kg BW/d for extreme and prolonged activities).
• Recommendations for protein intake typically range from 1.2–2.0 g/kg BW/d, but have more recently been expressed in terms of the regular spacing of intakes of modest amounts of high quality protein (0.3 g/kg body weight) after exercise and throughout the day.
• Fat intakes associated with eating styles that accommodate dietary goals typically range from 20%–35% of total energy intake.
• Athletes should consume diets that provide at least the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA)/Adequate Intake (AI) for all micronutrients
• A primary goal of competition nutrition is to address nutrition-related factors that may limit performance by causing fatigue and a deterioration over the course of the event
• Foods and fluids consumed in the 1–4 hours prior to an event should contribute to body carbohydrate stores
• Appropriate fluid intake before, during, and after exercise is important because dehydration/hypohydration can increase the perception of effort and impair exercise performance
• Consuming carbohydrate to provide additional energy after 60 minutes, typically 30–60 g/hour for muscle fuel needs and maintaining blood glucose concentrations
• Appropriate intake of fluids, electrolytes, energy, and carbohydrates to promote rehydration and restore muscle glycogen, e.g a carbohydrate intake of ∼1.0–1.2 g/kg/h during the early recovery phase and continuing for 4 to 6 hours and early intake of high quality protein sources (0.25–0.3 g/kg BW).
• In general, vitamin and mineral supplements are unnecessary for the athlete who consumes a diet providing high-energy availability from a variety of nutrient-dense foods
• Athletes should be counseled regarding the appropriate use of sports foods and nutritional ergogenic aids.
• Vegetarian athletes may be at risk for low intakes of energy, protein, fat, creatine, carnosine, n-3 fatty acids, and key micronutrients such as iron, calcium, riboflavin, zinc, and vitamin B-12

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