Nutritional Knowledge and Calorie Intake Among University Athlete with Risk of Female Athlete Triad

Female Athlete Triad (FAT) has always been a concern to competitive female athletes as it affects female athletes in terms of their sport performance and importantly, their overall health. In Malaysia, there is a limited of studies regarding FAT. This cross-sectional study was aim to assess the risk of developing FAT in female university athletes and its relationship with their sport nutritional knowledge and calorie intake. In total of 44 female athletes from public universities in Malaysia completed self-reported questionnaires and diet recall. Almost half of the female athletes (40.9%) were at risk of developing FAT. There was no difference in sport nutritional knowledge between female athletes who are at risk and not at risk of FAT. However, it was observed that those who were at risk consumed significantly lower daily calorie intake than those who were not at risk (p<0.05). Participants who were at risk also sustained significantly higher time-loss injury during the last year (p<0.001). In summary, the results showed that most of the female university athlete were at risk of developing FAT and appropriate intervention is needed in order to reduce the risk of FAT as it will lead to sports injury and impact their sports performance.