Perfil de praticantes de exercício físico e consumo de suplementos alimentares em academias no município de Santa Cruz do Sul, RS.

Abstract

Introduction and objective: The practice of physical exercise in the academies has grown in the last decades, both for health reasons and for aesthetic reasons. Adequate nutrition is determinant to obtain the desired results with sports practice. For this, athletes and physical exercise practitioners have increasingly resorted to dietary supplements to achieve the desired results. Thus, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the profile of physical exercise practitioners and consumption of dietary supplements in gyms in the city of Santa Cruz do Sul, RS. Materials and methods: Practitioners of physical exercise were selected from academies in the city of Santa Cruz do Sul, RS, Brazil, which answered two questionnaires: the first one containing personal information, questions related to sports practice and body image, and the second one information on the consumption of food supplements. Results: 38 individuals were evaluated, in which bodybuilding (71%) was considered the most practiced sport modality in the academies and hypertrophy, the main objective of the sport practice (46.8%). The use of food supplements was reported by 39.5% of the sample, with Whey Protein being the most consumed food supplement (60.3%). Regarding the prescription of dietary supplements, 61.6% reported having been performed by a nutritionist. Conclusion: Practitioners of the city councils of the present study, mostly, aim at muscular hypertrophy, using bodybuilding as a sports practice to obtain these results. The consumption of dietary supplements was not high, however, dietary and dietary supplementation by the nutritionist was high when compared to the literature data. Of the individuals who make use of supplements, the majority uses the supplements based on protein.