Snack and Nutrient Intake Status of Top-Level Female University Athletes: A Cross-Sectional Study

Ensuring proper energy, nutrient intake, and sleep is vital for athlete health and competitiveness. Despite previous studies investigating the nutrient intake among top-level collegiate female athletes in Japan, the status of snack consumption remains unclear. This study addressed this gap by surveying 70 top-level female university athletes. The survey included a self-administered diet history questionnaire, a qualitative food intake frequency survey, and a survey on snack and dietary supplement use. The results revealed a low frequency of snack intake (2.1 ± 2.3 days/week), with 55.7% of athletes reporting snack consumption. The energy intake in the snack-intake group was significantly higher than that in the without-snack-intake group (31.5 ± 10.0 vs. 26.6 ± 9.92 kcal/kg of BM, p = 0.047). Similarly, carbohydrate intake was significantly higher in the snack-intake group than in the without-snack-intake group (4.84 ± 1.71 vs. 3.96 ± 1.65 g/kg of BM/day, p = 0.035). However, neither group reached the recommended value of 5–8 g/kg of BM/day during the medium training period. Overall, this study emphasizes inadequate energy intake even among athletes with a high snack intake frequency, highlighting the necessity to enhance overall food consumption and underscoring the importance of nutritional education for incorporating appropriate complementary meals to improve performance

Specific and efficient targeting of cyanobacterial bicarbonate transporters to the inner envelope membrane of chloroplasts in Arabidopsis

Installation of cyanobacterial bicarbonate transporters to the inner envelope membrane (IEM) of chloroplasts in C3 plants has been thought to improve photosynthetic performance. However, the method to deliver cyanobacterial bicarbonate transporters to the chloroplast IEM remains to be established. In this study, we provide evidence that the cyanobacterial bicarbonate transporters, BicA and SbtA, can be specifically installed into the chloroplast IEM using the chloroplast IEM targeting signal in conjunction with the transit peptide. We fused the transit peptide and the mature portion of Cor413im1, whose targeting mechanism to the IEM has been characterized in detail, to either BicA or SbtA isolated from Synechocystis sp. PCC6803. Among the seven chimeric constructs tested, we confirmed that four chimeric bicarbonate transporters, designated as BicAI, BicAII, SbtAII, and SbtAIII, were expressed in Arabidopsis. Furthermore, these chimeric transporters were specifically targeted to the chloroplast IEM. They were also resistant to alkaline extraction but can be solubilized by Triton X-100, indicating that they are integral membrane proteins in the chloroplast IEM. One of the transporters, BicA, could reside in the chloroplast IEM even after removal of the IEM targeting signal. Taken together, our results indicate that the addition of IEM targeting signal, as well as the transit peptide, to bicarbonate transporters allows us to efficiently target nuclear-encoded chimeric bicarbonate transporters to the chloroplast IEM

Sleep Quality and Nutrient Intake in Japanese Female University Student-Athletes: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objectives: This study aimed to characterize the sleep quality and nutrient intake of Japanese female college athletes to provide specific conditioning support. Methods: A cross-sectional survey conducted between December 2019 and January 2020 during the regular training season in Niigata City, located at 139°02′ E longitude and 37°55′ N latitude. Overall, 120 female university student-athletes from eight clubs were selected. All sports were at the national level of competition. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) assessed sleep quality. Nutrient intake was assessed using Excel nutrition software through the Food Intake Frequency Questionnaire. Results: The mean PSQI score was 4.5 ± 2.5, with 29% of participants having a PSQI score ≥ 5.5. The sleep duration was 6.8 ± 1.1 h, with 45% of participants sleeping <7 h. The energy intake was 1800 ± 419 kcal, with no correlation between PSQI score and nutrient intake. Conclusions: PSQI scores were higher compared with other studies, but many participants had shorter sleep duration and lower nutrient intake, these data suggest that there is the possibility of improving the habits of Japanese athletes by increasing the subjects’ amount of sleep time and food intake

Sleep Quality and Nutrient Intake in Japanese Female University Student-Athletes: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objectives: This study aimed to characterize the sleep quality and nutrient intake of Japanese female college athletes to provide specific conditioning support. Methods: A cross-sectional survey conducted between December 2019 and January 2020 during the regular training season in Niigata City, located at 139°02′ E longitude and 37°55′ N latitude. Overall, 120 female university student-athletes from eight clubs were selected. All sports were at the national level of competition. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) assessed sleep quality. Nutrient intake was assessed using Excel nutrition software through the Food Intake Frequency Questionnaire. Results: The mean PSQI score was 4.5 ± 2.5, with 29% of participants having a PSQI score ≥ 5.5. The sleep duration was 6.8 ± 1.1 h, with 45% of participants sleeping <7 h. The energy intake was 1800 ± 419 kcal, with no correlation between PSQI score and nutrient intake. Conclusions: PSQI scores were higher compared with other studies, but many participants had shorter sleep duration and lower nutrient intake, these data suggest that there is the possibility of improving the habits of Japanese athletes by increasing the subjects’ amount of sleep time and food intake

Impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic on Leisure Screen Time and Eating Habits of Japanese High School Students: A Comparison between before and during the Pandemic

This study aimed to determine whether adolescents’ leisure screen time differed during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic compared to before the pandemic, and to identify factors that affect leisure screen time among Japanese high school students. The Health Behavior in School Children questionnaire was used to investigate differences in eating habits and physical and mental health. The results showed that the leisure screen time of Japanese high school students was 2.6 h (SD = 1.4) before the pandemic, and 3.2 h (SD = 1.5) during the pandemic. The factors that increased leisure screen time were found to differ between boys and girls. No significant deterioration in physical and mental health was observed. The impact of the pandemic on eating habits differed in boys and girls. Boys reported “not feeling great about life” as a factor that increased leisure screen time during the pandemic, suggesting that negative emotions influenced the increase in leisure screen time. The pandemic had a significant impact on girls’ leisure screen time. Longer screen time should be carefully monitored because it can lead to sleep disturbances, worsening of mental health, and obesity. Compared with before the pandemic, the health status of boys and girls changed little. Eating habits tended to improve for both boys and girls

Self-Assessment of Health Status and Willingness to Be Vaccinated in Adolescents from the Niigata Prefecture and the Khabarovsk Region during COVID-19

This study examined the self-assessment of Niigata&rsquo;s and Khabarovsk&rsquo;s adolescents&rsquo; health status and their willingness to be vaccinated during the COVID-19 pandemic. A self-reported questionnaire was administered to 735 boys and girls (aged 15 years) from Niigata, Japan (n = 387), and Khabarovsk, Russia (n = 394), between May and July 2021. Specifically, this questionnaire focused on COVID-19, including a self-assessment of health status, adaptation to a new lifestyle, and impressions about the COVID-19 vaccination. The self-assessment was based on a 4-point scale: &ldquo;Got very bad&rdquo;; &ldquo;Got a little bit bad&rdquo;; &ldquo;Did not change&rdquo;; &ldquo;Got better/I don&rsquo;t know&rdquo;. Additionally, binomial logistic regression was conducted to determine the association between the self-assessment of health status and the factors exacerbating their responses. Based on the findings, 25.7 and 29.9% of Niigata and Khabarovsk&rsquo;s adolescents, respectively, selected &ldquo;Got very bad&rdquo; and &ldquo;Got a little bit bad&rdquo; for their self-assessments, while the binomial logistic regression showed that the difficulty of adapting to a new lifestyle was a factor worsening the boys&rsquo; subjective health. However, the items could not explain the deterioration of their subjective health in girls. Moreover, 76.9% of Niigata&rsquo;s adolescents were positive about the COVID-19 vaccination, compared to 35.5% of the adolescents in Khabarovsk