SPORTS NUTRITION: FATS

Fats play an important, yet often overlooked, role in sports and exercise performance. It is widely understood that carbohydrates act as the main fuel and protein is for aiding muscle growth. While these two essential macronutrients tend to get more attention, healthy fats are essential for overall health, body composition, and athletic capabilities.

Importance of Fats for Athletes

Energy Provision: Fats can be used as the alternative energy source, especially for lower-intensity and longer-duration activities. They can provide a steady supply of fuel to working skeletal muscles and other body cells.
Hormone Production: Fats, especially cholesterol, are the building blocks for important hormones like testosterone, estrogen, and growth hormone, which influence muscle growth, recovery, and performance.
Joint and Tissue Health: Fats help reduce inflammation and support the health of joints, tendons, and other connective tissues, which is crucial for injury prevention and recovery.
Nutrient Absorption: Fat-soluble vitamins like A, D, E, and K require dietary fats for proper absorption and utilization by the body. Minerals like iron and calcium also depend on the level of body fat for normal absorption.
Protect internal organs: A layer of adipose tissue covering vital organs such as the heart, liver, spleen, kidneys, brain and spinal cord to protect them against trauma.
Supply essential fatty acids: Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids cannot be synthesised by the body. Especially omega-3 fats provide anti-inflammatory benefits and support overall health and performance.

Optimal Fat Intake for Athletes

Dietary fat provides ~37 kilojoules/9 kilocalories, per gram. It can be divided into four major categories:

Monounsaturated fats
Polyunsaturated fats
Saturated fats
Trans fats

The ideal fat intake for athletes can vary based on the type of sport, training volume/duration, intensity and individual needs. As a general guideline, athletes should aim for 20-35% of their total daily calories to come from healthy fats.

Common Sources of Healthier Fats

Athletes should focus on consuming mostly monounsaturated & polyunsaturated fats as these are proven to provide a range of health and performance benefits. The following food is recommended:

Fatty fish (e.g. salmon, mackerel, sardines)
Nuts and seeds (e.g. almonds, walnuts, chia, flax)
Avocados
Oil (e.g. olive oil, rapeseed oil, sunflower oil)

Common Sources of Unhealthier Fats

Other than that, it is vital that saturated fats should make up no more than 10% of our total daily energy intake, whereas trans fats should account for no more than 2% of our total energy intake. It is because saturated and trans fats are harder to utilise as a fuel source, disrupt gut microbiome diversity, and correlate to higher risk of cardiovascular disease. The following food should be limited:

Packaged/highly processed food
Meat/poultry skin
Bacon, sausage
Dairy products (e.g. whole milk, cream, cheese)
Butter, stick margarine, shortening
Fried foods, baked goods and pastries.

Summary

It’s important for athletes to focus on incorporating a variety of whole food fat sources rather than relying heavily on supplements. Working with a sports dietitian can help athletes optimize their fat intake to meet their individual needs and goals.