• Carolina A L Sasaki and Teresa H M da Costa.
• Graduate Course in Human Nutrition, University of Brasilia, DF, Brazil and Assistent Professor, Department of Nutrition, Centro Universitário Unieuro, Brasilia, DF, Brazil. Electronic address: carolinanutricionista09@gmail.com.
• Nutrition. 2021 Jan 1; 81: 110992.

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to determine the usual energy and micronutrient intake distributions and compare the prevalence of insufficient/excessive micronutrient intake in Brazilian para-athletes with and without scholarship support.MethodsThe study was conducted between September 2018 and August 2019 and included 101 athletes with a disability from 13 Paralympic disciplines living in Brasília, the Federal District. Food intake was estimated from two or four non-consecutive 24-h food recalls in which para-athletes reported all food, beverages, and supplements consumed in the previous 24-h. Dietary intake analysis was performed by implementing the National Cancer Institute method. Comparisons between scholarship and non-scholarship athletes were performed using Student's t tests for parametric variables and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests for nonparametric variables.ResultsMean usual energy intake was significantly lower in scholarship para-athletes (2128 ± 125 kcal/d) than in non-scholarship para-athletes (2239 ± 116 kcal/d; P < 0.001). The prevalence of inadequacy for vitamin D, calcium, vitamin A, thiamine, riboflavin, and zinc was significantly higher in scholarship than in non-scholarship para-athletes (P < 0.001). The prevalence of risk for iron deficiency was 29.5% in female para-athletes. The prevalence of micronutrient inadequacy was >10% for eight (60%) and seven (54%) micronutrients among scholarship and non-scholarship para-athletes, respectively.ConclusionsThe Brazilian Federal sport scholarship assistance program in its current format is insufficient to protect athletes from micronutrient inadequacies.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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