In an interview with Sputnik Africa, Dmitry Nikityuk, Director of Russia's Federal Research Center for Nutrition, Biotechnology and Food Safety, has stressed the crucial role of nutrition in achieving peak athletic performance and maintaining good health.
"Nutrition is the exogenous factor that we can influence relatively easily, unlike inherited potential," said Nikityuk, who is a former Master of Sports in Sambo himself. "Imagine a pyramid of sporting success. At its base lies nutrition – it's creating the foundation without which it's impossible to achieve high sporting results while simultaneously preserving health."
The expert highlighted the significant advancements made in the science of nutrition and the food industry in recent years, leading to the emergence of specialized foods designed specifically for athletes. These products, he explained, incorporate essential nutrients through innovative technologies, while simultaneously eliminating unnecessary or even harmful substances.
"We conducted research a few years ago that showed that an individualized two-week diet regimen can increase athletic performance by 20-30% even three months after its cessation," Nikityuk revealed.
He emphasized the importance of adjusting diet for amateur athletes who have begun incorporating more physical activity into their routines.
"When regularly putting your body under stress, you need to strive to follow two fundamental laws of nutritiology," Nikityuk stated. "The first law is about aligning your energy expenditure with the energy you consume. If you consume more energy than you expend, you gain weight. If you expend more energy than you consume, you lose weight, which can also lead to health problems."
The second law, he said, is even more complex: "Your diet needs to contain the right amount and composition of biologically active substances necessary for normal life processes. We call this collective 'nutriome,' which includes about 200 biologically active substances that we need to consume daily. It doesn't matter to the body how they get there, through food or capsules, but they need to be in the diet regularly - vitamins, flavonoids, minerals, various microelements."
Nikityuk advised that for amateur athletes with only a slight increase in physical activity, the key isn't necessarily to change their entire diet, but simply to maintain a healthy and optimal eating pattern.