On the ground at the 2024 Olympics: Female athlete nutrition

“Women competed for the first time at the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris,” Sharon Madigan, PhD, science lead for Team Ireland and nutrition advisor to several competing athletes, told NutraIngredients. 

“Now we’re here 124 years later in Paris, and it’s a completely even split which is fantastic,” she said. 

As Madigan noted in a recent review​, the number of women competing in the Olympics has grown exponentially over the last 100 years, making it even more crucial to support women in achieving optimum performance. 

However, there remain large gaps in knowledge on nutritional requirements for male and female athletes. 

“One reason for this gap is the historical bias in sports and exercise science research towards male participants,” she stated. “This has led to a poor understanding of the unique physiological and nutritional needs of female athletes.”

Nutrition intake  ​

Many athletes will have come to the games having rehearsed meals and devised nutrition plans, according to Madigan, and the Olympic Village restaurant and canteen have been designed to cater to all tastes, cuisines and cultures to allow athletes to eat as they might at home.   

However, in Paris’ current climate, athletes, especially those in endurance events or outdoor competitions, will need higher carbohydrate intake to sustain performance, she explained, noting that this is challenging in events with multiple rounds or prolonged periods of activity.

“The women's marathon will start at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday with temperatures forecasted to reach 31°C,” Madigan noted. “Even experienced athletes can struggle, as I saw during the Rio Marathon where some collapsed due to inadequate planning for hydration and cooling.

“To mitigate these risks, medical teams are using strategies like providing ice slurries, maintaining carbohydrate and electrolyte levels, and ensuring proper hydration.”

Carbohydrate intake is crucial, especially in endurance sports, however hormonal phases in women affect carbohydrate metabolism and performance, as gluconeogenesis rates are higher during the follicular phase than the luteal phase.

Changes in hormone levels throughout the menstrual cycle have also been shown to influence water and electrolyte regulation​, affecting fluid retention in female athletes. 

“Generally speaking, the key thing for female athletes here in Paris, is fluid intake,” Madigan noted.

Female athletes have distinct nutritional requirements compared to male, however, research has shown that female athletes tend to have lower energy and micronutrient intake​ than their male counterparts.

Key micronutrients such as iron, calcium and vitamin D are crucial in several aspects of performance, and iron in particular is an important aspect to consider when making sex comparisons as it has significant differences between males and females, Madigan said,

“Women are more prone to iron deficiency anemia because of blood loss during menstruation,” she added.

Close quarters​

The Olympic village has hosted almost 11,000 athletes plus support staff this year, making the risk of infections high, particularly respiratory ones, Madigan explained.

“We know that respiratory tract infection risk increases with under-fuelling,” she said. 

Underfueling affects athletes of all genders but can be particularly prevalent among females due to factors like disordered eating, misjudgment of caloric needs and dietary choices that make it hard to meet calorie requirements. 

In her review, Madigan noted that young girls’ activity and nutrition can be affected by gender norms and feminine ideals, where they "may be encouraged to eat less or avoid certain foods to maintain a certain body shape or size."

“Society’s concept of how people are expected to look and behave based on societally created norms for masculinity and femininity can influence gender roles in sports,” she said.  

“Images of female athletes are increasingly employed in the marketing of sports nutrition products, and these images can perpetuate unrealistic body ideals and affect female athletes’ relationships with food.”

Research advances ​ 

As Madigan explained during the recent NutraIngredients webinar on women’s health​, there is now a larger pool of elite female athletes which will allow for more substantial and meaningful research.

This year's 50/50 gender split will hopefully aid the next step in addressing the lack of female athlete data, especially at the elite level, Madigan said, adding that the "key will be more funding for female-specific research." 

“Female research is expensive, as you've got to look at multiple blood samples, potentially multiple other sampling throughout the menstrual cycle, which you don't need to do for a male athlete,” she explained. 

However, there is an increasing number of female researchers in the space, which Madigan hopes will help drive research due to personal vested interest.