Sports nutrition - Horses and humans - What parallels can we draw?

Nutrition significantly influences athletic performance – at least this is what a recent international olympic Committee (ioC) statement on human sports nutrition has stated. they have also advised that all athletes should adopt specific nutritional strategies before, during, and after training and competition to maximize both their mental and physical performance and recovery. this may not seem earth shattering, but perhaps the significance is that nutrition is held in such high regard as a factor that helps athletes attain optimum exercise performance. Within horseracing, we have tended to regard nutrition as being ‘the icing on the cake’ and perhaps not fundamental to performance. So are there any pointers that we can draw from the approach to sports nutrition in human athletes?

By Catherine Dunnett Bsc, Phd

First Published (20 April 2011 - Issue 20)