RECONNECTING YOUTH TO SPORTS CLUBS

Should we be swapping more refined sugars for those that occur naturally, such as the fructose found in fruit? Finding new ways to structure foods will be an important form of food processing in the future “Sugars obtained by chemical synthesis, such as high-fructose corn syrup and invert sugar, are common low-cost ingredients of ultra-processed foods,” says Rauber. “Sugars are used in large quantities by the food industry to give flavour to foods that have had their intrinsic flavours processed out of them and to mask any unpleasant flavours in the final product. These sugars are not only used as sweeteners but have important technological functions in foods, providing texture, bulk, colour and acting as preservative agents.” It’s true that fruits contain a lot of natural sugar, “but it is surprisingly low for the sweetness that you get,” says Sulu. By comparison, processed confectionery contains more sugars for the same sweet hit. Much of the sugar is there to cheaply bulk out the processed food. Sugars, fats and salt have all been the subject of public health campaigns, but as Rauber says, it’s not always simple to remove them from foods where they serve a chemical function. Take, for instance, emulsions added to low-fat foods to give the mouthfeel of fat, which is widely being regarded as the “sixth taste”. We might need to get used to more processing – though for reasons of public health – in the future as we find ways to keep food fresh and looking its best without these ingredients. Finding new ways to structure foods will be an important form of food processing in the future, agrees Gibney, as we move towards a plant-based diet. “Plant-based diets are really going to challenge the concept that we are going to process less,” she says. “The nature of having to extract nutrients from plants to create products that consumers will want to taste, feel and smell the same will mean we need to process food. Are we moving away from one kind of food for ethical reasons and moving towards something that is more processed? “I think that if you look to the future, we are going to have to embrace food processing,” she says.

RECONNECTING YOUTH TO SPORTS CLUBS Reconnecting young people to sports clubs

VICTORIA AND FEDERATION UNIVERSITIES - DEC, 2021

New research shows young people who swapped community sport for bike rides or other unstructured physical activities during COVID-19 lockdowns may not return – unless clubs find new ways to re-engage them. With closed competitions and cancelled training for most of 2020 and 2021, sport club participation rates in Victoria have plummeted, according to research from Victoria and Federation Universities. Registration records for the State’s most popular 10 sports, including AFL, cricket, gymnastics, netball, tennis, and swimming, indicate members fell from a 2019 peak of 868,000 -- representing more than 13% of all Victorians -- to about 637,000, or less than 10% in 2020. Just over half of all participants were aged under 14. VU researcher Professor Rochelle Eime said if clubs could not entice former members to return – and recruit new ones – community sport could lose a generation of people, especially children aged four to nine who showed the biggest drop-off. “The early adopter group missed out on school PE as well as club sport. Many have not yet developed skills to throw or kick a ball and don’t have much motivation or confidence to join clubs.” Recruiting this group will require junior clubs to go back to basic skills development in a fun and inclusive environment, she said. “Declining physical literacy of young children has been an issue for years, but the pandemic made it worse. If we don’t do something now, COVID-19’s legacy will be an even wider gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children.” Another reason for the drop-off may be due to parents who have reassessed time and cost commitments of club sport compared to the less demanding activities that featured during lockdowns – especially those with several kids, she said. Professor Eime said one solution to address this is for clubs to find flexible ways to involve the family in a range of competition and play formats, including informal sport. Previous research revealed participants join clubs primarily for enjoyment and socialising, meaning recruitment strategies must emphasise fun over premierships. This is especially true for girls and young women at another critical drop-out stage of adolescence. Against this backdrop, clubs continue struggling to recruit and retain volunteers who are the lifeblood of these organisations, especially coaches, she said. It is too early for 2021 data, but anecdotal evidence shows some winter sports, such as soccer and AFL, have already started preseason training for 2022, in a signal they are eager to re-engage with their young members in new ways. VicHealth’s Future Healthy Executive Manager, Kristine Cooney, said participation in physical activity, and the social connection it brings, is more important than ever for the mental and physical wellbeing of young people. “This new research is another example of how young people have been hardest hit by the pandemic,” Ms Cooney said. “We must work with sporting clubs and local communities to listen to our young people and understand what they need to be active and socially connected. As we recover from the pandemic, it’s vital we create a Victoria where no young person is denied a future that is healthy, regardless of their postcode, bank balance or background.” Professor Hans Westerbeek of Victoria University also contributed to the sport participation research project, funded by Sport and Recreation Victoria and the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth).

Healthy Swaps

Nutrition Advice

Healthy ingredient swaps to increase fibre intake

NSW Institute of Sport While a wide variety of foods can and should make up a highperformance diet, a key nutrient to incorporate to support optimal health is fibre. Fibre plays an important role in optimising gut health, which we know can have a significant influence on other areas of health including mental health and the body’s immune defence. Fibre can be found in fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. Making one or two slightly healthier choices in how you fill your plate each day may help to create more sustainable shifts and encourage long-term change in nutrition habits, rather than feeling like you need to eat ‘perfectly’, all the time. Challenge yourself to find ways to make meals and snacks higher in fibre by using some of the suggestions shown in the chart. It is important to note that while fibre is a fundamental nutrient for health, if consumed too close to training and/or competition, it may lead to gastrointestinal symptoms in some athletes. Therefore, it is worth trialling different foods and timings around your training sessions to see what works best for you. For some athletes, focusing high fibre foods in meals and snacks away from training may be best to avoid undesirable symptoms that may impact training quality.

Healthy ingredient swaps to positively impact your diet

In training, sometimes very small changes to skills or techniques can make all the difference to overall performance. A slight adjustment of an angle, or timing of a stroke, can have a huge flow-on effect to impact performance. Nutrition is very similar in that making small modifications to what ingredients are used, or how food is cooked, can impact the quality and health of a meal and your overall diet. In the chart are a few key ingredient swaps and cooking techniques to adjust and tweak your diet to have a longer-term impact on performance outcomes.