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Preface

This book addresses vitamin and trace element needs as they relate to exercise and sports. A growing body of research indicates that work capacity, oxygen consumption and other measures of physical performance of individuals, including athletes, are affected by deficiency or borderline deficiency of specific vitamins or essential trace elements. Athletes, as well as the public in general, often have low dietary intakes of many of the vitamins and essential trace elements. The findings of some researchers indicate that large doses of certain vitamins and trace elements given to individuals who had adequate status of that vitamin or trace element improved various measures of physical performance. Other researchers have reported conflicting findings. A critical review of these reports is included in this book.

This volume includes a collection of chapters written by scientists from several academic disciplines who have expertise in an area of vitamin or trace element nutrition as it relates to exercise and sports. Following an introduction are reviews of exercise and sports as they relate to the vitamins (ascorbic acid, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B₆ , folate, vitamin B₁₂ , pantothenic acid and biotin, choline [an essential nutrient], vitamin A, vitamins D and K, vitamin E), the essential trace elements (iron, zinc, iodine, chromium, selenium), as well as a chapter on boron, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, silicon, and vanadium, and ending in a summary chapter. Sports nutritionists, sports medicine and fitness professionals, researchers, students, health practitioners and the well informed layman will find this book timely and informative.

This book is part of a miniseries we edited that deals with nutrition in exercise and sport. Other books in this miniseries are: Sports Nutrition: Vitamins and Trace Elements (first edition); Macroelements, Water and Electrolytes in Sports Nutrition ; Energy-Yielding Macronutrients and Energy Metabolism in Sports Nutrition ; Nutritional Applications in Exercise and Sport ; Nutritional Assessment of Athletes and Nutritional Ergogenic Aids. Additionally useful will be Nutrition in Exercise and Sport, 3rd edition, edited by Ira Wolinsky, and Sports Nutrition, authored by Judy Driskell.