# Contemporary Themes in Dietary Intake in Rugby Union Players: A Narrative Review

## TL;DR

This review summarizes current dietary practices in rugby players, highlighting gaps in research and the need for tailored nutritional recommendations.

## Contribution

The paper identifies emerging themes in dietary intake among rugby players and emphasizes the lack of comprehensive, translational research in this area.

## Key findings

- Only one study among eighteen focused on dietary intake in female rugby players.
- Limited evidence exists on how protein and carbohydrate periodization affects performance and recovery in rugby players.
- Nutrition knowledge levels in players have been studied, but their impact on dietary intake remains unclear.

## Abstract

Rugby union is an intermittent team sport with variability in body composition and match-play demands between positions which requires careful consideration for individual dietary requirements. While previous reviews have detailed the macronutrient intake in rugby players, none have discussed the further determinants of dietary intake in this population. Therefore, the purpose of the current review was to summarise the current evidence detailing dietary intake in rugby union players, report on contemporary nutritional research themes, and provide recommendations for athletes, nutritionists, and other stakeholders. In total, eighteen articles report on dietary intake in rugby players, with only one of these detailing dietary intake in female athletes. Recent studies have reported on both protein and carbohydrate periodisation practices in rugby union players; however, there is currently limited evidence as to the influence of these on performance, recovery, and well-being. Factors influencing eating patterns, the impact of sports nutritionists on dietary intake, and food consumption in catered and non-catered environments has been explored in isolated studies. Nutrition knowledge levels in rugby players have been reported in several studies; however, the influence this has on dietary intake in rugby players is unknown. Collectively, despite new contemporary themes emerging in the literature concerning dietary intake in rugby players, the studies are isolated; as such, there is limited scope to the translatability of information due to heterogeneity in sex, level of play, and location of participants. Given this, future research should aim to build upon the themes identified in this review in combination to support practitioners working within their specific environments. This will subsequently build towards the generation of rugby-specific recommendations.