Individualized Breakfast Programs or Glycogen Super-Compensation: Which Is the Better Performing Strategy? Insights from an Italian Soccer Referees Cohort

Rebecca Regnoli, Marco Rovelli, Vincenzo Gianturco, Fabrizio Ernesto Pregliasco, Bruno Dino Bodini and Luigi Gianturco
Additional contact information
Rebecca Regnoli: IRCCS Galeazzi Orthopedic Institute, Dietician Service, 20161 Milan, Italy
Marco Rovelli: Biomedical Committee Italian Soccer Referees’ Association (AIA-FIGC), 20100 Milan, Italy
Vincenzo Gianturco: Geriatrics Operative Unit, INRCA-IRCCS, 63900 Fermo, Italy
Fabrizio Ernesto Pregliasco: IRCCS Galeazzi Orthopedic Institute, Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, University of Milan, 20161 Milan, Italy
Bruno Dino Bodini: Pulmonology Unit, Casati Hospital, 20017 Passirana, Italy
Luigi Gianturco: Biomedical Committee Italian Soccer Referees’ Association (AIA-FIGC), 20100 Milan, Italy

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 3, 1-8

Abstract: The role of soccer referees has grown in importance in the last decades, as has attention to their performance, which may be influenced and improved with specific and evolved training programs. Today, multiple specialists are working as a team in order to develop effective training programs. Moreover, for athletes, it is becoming more and more important to be attentive to nutrition. By considering such items, in this study, we aimed to investigate the nutritional habits of a group of referees belonging to the Italian Soccer Referees’ Association (on behalf of AIA-FIGC). Our main aim was to spread a “culture of nutrition” in refereeing, starting with a survey on referees’ breakfast attitudes and in order to disseminate such a “culture”, we chose top-level elite referees who were younger subjects (despite the average 4 years’ experience). Therefore, we enrolled 31 subjects (aged 22.74 ± 1.79, BMI 22.30 ± 1.53) and asked them about their breakfast habits. Then, for measuring their performance, we used the conventional fitness test named Yo-Yo (YYiR1), performed in three different sessions (test 1, test 2, test 3). Test 1 was carried out without any nutritional indications, test 2 was given after individualized breakfast suggestions by a designed dietician, and test 3 after an individualized glycogen super-compensation strategy. The Wilcoxon statistical analysis indicates that following an individualized breakfast strategy may enhance referees’ performance ( p < 0.0001), whereas no significant effects were observed with the glycogen super-compensation option. However, further studies will be necessary to better address this topic and clarify whether high-carbohydrates (high-CHO) intake may be useful in other sports.

Keywords: referee; YYiR1; glycogen supercompensation; breakfast; diet (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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