CDN Sports Nutrition & Performance 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A competitive swimmer undergoes a skin-fold assessment showing 8% body fat. She wants to lower it to 5%. What is the most appropriate dietitian response?
- Create an aggressive 1000 kcal/day deficit immediately
- Advise that 5% body fat may impair hormonal function and performance in females (Correct answer)
- Recommend a ketogenic diet to maximize fat loss rapidly
- Suggest intermittent fasting to accelerate fat loss
Correct answer: Advise that 5% body fat may impair hormonal function and performance in females
For female athletes, body fat below approximately 12–14% can disrupt estrogen levels, menstrual function, and bone density; advising pursuit of 5% body fat is clinically inappropriate.
Question 2: A basketball player reports persistent fatigue and decreased performance. Lab results show serum ferritin of 10 ng/mL with normal hemoglobin. What condition does this represent?
- Iron-deficiency anemia
- Non-anemic iron deficiency (Stage II iron deficiency) (Correct answer)
- Sports anemia (dilutional pseudoanemia)
- Hemolytic anemia from foot-strike hemolysis
Correct answer: Non-anemic iron deficiency (Stage II iron deficiency)
Low ferritin with normal hemoglobin represents Stage II (non-anemic) iron deficiency, which can impair aerobic performance through reduced iron availability for enzymatic processes before anemia develops.
Question 3: Which pre-competition meal timing and composition is most evidence-based for optimizing glycogen stores without causing GI distress?
- High-fat, high-protein meal 30 minutes before
- High-carbohydrate, low-fat, low-fiber meal 3–4 hours before (Correct answer)
- Large mixed meal 1 hour before competition
- Fasting 12 hours before to prevent GI upset
Correct answer: High-carbohydrate, low-fat, low-fiber meal 3–4 hours before
A carbohydrate-rich, low-fat, low-fiber meal consumed 3–4 hours before competition maximizes glycogen availability while allowing adequate gastric emptying to minimize GI distress.
Question 4: An athlete on a plant-based diet has concerns about protein quality. Which combination of plant foods provides all essential amino acids comparable to a complete protein?
- Almonds + flaxseed
- Rice + beans (legumes) (Correct answer)
- Spinach + quinoa
- Oats + peanut butter
Correct answer: Rice + beans (legumes)
Rice and beans together provide complementary amino acid profiles that together contain all essential amino acids, making this combination nutritionally complete — though complementarity need not occur at every meal.
Question 5: Which statement about heat acclimatization and its nutritional implications is correct?
- Sweat rate decreases after acclimatization, reducing fluid needs
- Acclimatization increases plasma volume and reduces electrolyte concentration in sweat (Correct answer)
- Carbohydrate needs decrease significantly in heat training
- Protein requirements drop during heat acclimatization
Correct answer: Acclimatization increases plasma volume and reduces electrolyte concentration in sweat
Heat acclimatization expands plasma volume (improving thermoregulation) and produces more dilute sweat with lower sodium concentration, though total sweat volume typically increases.
Question 6: A 70 kg male athlete uses a 5-day creatine loading protocol (20g/day). After loading, what is the recommended maintenance dose?
- 10g/day
- 3–5g/day (Correct answer)
- 0.5g/kg/day
- 15g every other day
Correct answer: 3–5g/day
After a loading phase of 20g/day for 5–7 days, 3–5g/day of creatine monohydrate is sufficient to maintain saturated muscle creatine stores.
Question 7: A sports dietitian is counseling an athlete about Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S). Compared to the female athlete triad, RED-S is distinct because:
- It only applies to female athletes in aesthetic sports
- It encompasses male athletes and a broader range of health consequences beyond bone and hormones (Correct answer)
- It requires clinical amenorrhea as a mandatory diagnostic criterion
- It focuses exclusively on eating disorder behaviors
Correct answer: It encompasses male athletes and a broader range of health consequences beyond bone and hormones
RED-S is an expanded model that applies to both male and female athletes across all sports and recognizes impairments in immunity, metabolism, cardiovascular health, and psychological function — not just the triad's three components.
CDN Sports Nutrition & Performance 5
A competitive swimmer undergoes a skin-fold assessment showing 8% body fat.
She wants to lower it to 5%.
What is the most appropriate dietitian response?