A great success has received the Sports Nutrition Course, held Saturday, Sept. 17th at the Hotel Meliá in Milan. Nearly 300 were, in fact, coaches, technicians of various sports, graduates in physical education and sports, doctors who participated.
Giancarlo Carli, Professor Emeritus of Physiology at the University of Siena, opened the Course. Carli gave the lecture on "Mind and Sport". He spoke, among other things, about the benefits that the practice of sport leads to the central nervous system: enhances memory and learning, improves sleep, mood and self-control. In addition, through the production of BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), promotes the formation of new neurons and the increase in synapses (connections) between the real neurons.
Enrico Arcelli, already associate professor at the University of Milan, chairman of the course, stressed the fact that the zone diet pattern could be fully utilized, with advantages for performance, in many disciplines, such as games team sports with weight restrictions (weight lifting, combat sports, rowing lightweight ...), those of power and / or force (throws and jumps athletics) and so on. In endurance sports, however, you must make some adjustments to ensure optimum intake of carbohydrates.
The theme of Luca Mondazzi, Head of Sports Nutrition at MAPEI Castellanza and Dietitian of many famous cyclists, was "Endurance and carbohydrates." Mondazzi stressed the importance of glycogen stores, that sort of starch from which derive energy for working muscles. If, during a long race, glycogen is depleted, it warns the hard work and you must reduce the intensity of effort. It becomes important, therefore, to rebuild its stocks after a competition, especially if within a few tens of hours he has to make another one.
And then was the turn of Carmine Orlandi, nutritional consultant of Siena football team, the boxer Clemente Russo (who was attending the course) and of the federation of weightlifting, boxing and other combat sports. Orlandi said that it is possible, through proper nutrition, tailor made to individual athlete, check your body weight and, in the following disciplines, if necessary, allow athletes to be within the limits of weight, lose fat, not muscle, while maintaining maximum efficiency.
Fabrizio Angelini, consultant for nutrition and endocrinology of Juventus and president of the Italian Society of Sports Nutrition and Wellness, was involved in the assessment of nutritional status of professional footballers. In choosing the proper diet we should to have in mind that Italian teams there are now athletes from different ethnicities and religions as well as the fact that intense and frequently training favor the inflammatory state of the organism and the production of large amounts of free radicals.
One of the doctors of the national football team, Luca Gatteschi, underlained all the factors that influence the organization of a nutrition plan in a football team. It must take into account not only the physical characteristics and habits of the individual player, but also the competitive program. If you have to play a game after a few days (as happens, for example, when we have Cup at midweek) you should eat carbohydrates to accelerate the rebuilding of muscle glycogen at the end of the game.
Fulvio Marzatico (University of Pavia) talked about the relationship between diet and muscle strength. At the same workout, the increase in muscle mass and strength is greater if the protein intake with food is quantitatively correct and is done with the right timing, particularly just before and / or shortly after the training session. Then there is an amino acid, leucine, that has a key role in promoting protein synthesis. Although creatine is useful from that point of view.
The last speech was by Giovanni Scapagnini, associate professor of biochemistry at the University of Molise. He spoke of the formation of new mitochondria in muscle fibers, the particles that can be defined as "powerhouses" of the muscles, since in them - the combination of oxygen with glucose or fatty acids - it produces ATP, the "fuel" of muscles. In addition to training, some plant molecules are able to promote their growth, which would help fight aging.