Body mass index, nutritional knowledge, and eating behaviors in elite student and professional ballet dancers.
Wyon, Matthew Hutchings, Kate M Wells, Abigail Nevill, Alan M
Wyon, Matthew
Hutchings, Kate M
Wells, Abigail
Nevill, Alan M
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2014-09
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Abstract
Objective: It is recognized that there is a high esthetic demand in ballet, and this has implications on dancers' body mass index (BMI) and eating behaviors. The objective of this study was to examine the association between BMI, eating attitudes, and nutritional knowledge of elite student and professional ballet dancers. Design: Observational design. Setting: Institutional. Participants: One hundred eighty-nine participants from an elite full-time dance school (M = 53, F = 86) and from an elite ballet company (M = 16, F = 25) volunteered for the study. There were no exclusion criteria. Interventions: Anthropometric data (height and mass), General Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire (GNKQ), and the Eating Attitude Test—26 (EAT-26) were collected from each participant. Main Outcome Measures: Univariate analysis of variance was used to examine differences in gender and group for BMI, GNKQ, and EAT-26. Regression analyses were applied to examine interactions between BMI, GNKQ, and EAT-26. Results: Professional dancers had significantly greater BMI than student dancers (P < 0.001), and males had significantly higher BMI scores than females (P < 0.05). Food knowledge increased with age (P < 0.001) with no gender difference. Student dancers had a significant interaction between year group and gender because of significantly higher EAT-26 scores for females in years 10 and 12. Regression analysis of the subcategories (gender and group) reported a number of significant relationships between BMI, GNKQ, and EAT-26. Conclusions: The findings suggest that dancers with disordered eating also display lower levels of nutritional knowledge, and this may have an impact on BMI. Female students' eating attitudes and BMI should especially be monitored during periods of adolescent development.
Citation
Wyon MA., Hutchings KM., Wells A., Nevill AM. (2014) Body mass index, nutritional knowledge, and eating behaviors in elite student and professional ballet dancers, Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, 24 (5) pp. 390-396
doi: 10.1097/JSM.0000000000000054
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Research Unit
PubMed ID
24326932
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Journal article
Language
en
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ISSN
1536-3724