Low-energy availability (LEA) and high blood pressure (HBP) in Black athletes may be related, according to findings from a recent study from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (N.C. A&T).
Student athletes Jason Ivey, Janorris Robertson, and Zach Yeager, and Dr. Troy Purdom
The small pilot study analyzed the self-reported nutritional intake of 23 Black N.C. A&T Division I athletes – 13 male students, 10 female students – spanning sports, such as track and field, basketball, football, and volleyball.
“To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the nutritional influence on HBP and separately the first to consider Black athletes,” the study authors wrote.
Researchers discovered a “moderate relationship” between cardiovascular disease and LEA, the latter defined in the study as someone intaking less energy than needed for their estimated daily energy use. More than half (14 of 23) of the athletes were found to have LEA, according to the study. And among those 14, high blood pressure was more prevalent (78.6%) than among the 9 students without LEA (22.2%).
Of the nutrients examined in the study – which included those with known cardiovascular effects – there were deficiencies across the board, said Dr. Troy Purdom, study principal investigator and an assistant professor in N.C. A&T’s kinesiology department. He added that that deficiencies of this nature have significant impacts on cardiovascular systems beyond just energy deficiency.
“Nutrient deficiencies were ubiquitous, which means that every nutrient we explored was deficient,” Purdom said. This means the athletes were found to be deficient in carbohydrate, protein, fat, polyunsaturated fatty acids, Omega3, sodium, calcium, Vitamin D, and iron.
This indicates that these student athletes were not only eating enough, but also not eating the right nutritional foods, Purdom said.
