A recent study by a team of researchers at the University at Buffalo have found that competitive female runners who comsumed a low-fat diet where prone to increased injuries.

The study followed 87 women for a year in order to measure the relationship between diet and injuries.The results indicated that those who developed injurines had significantly lower intake of total fat and percentage of calories from fat, as well as cafffeine, than runners who stayed injury-free.. A lower total caloric consumption also was of value in anticipating future injury, researchers found, but there was no relationship between consumption of other nutrients and risk of injury.

"The number of women runners is increasing at a phenomenal rate, and with this comes significant health benefits, but also health risks," said Peter Horvath, Ph.D., associate professor of nutrition in the UB School of Public Health and Health Professions and senior author on the study.

"The injuries we studied were serious enough to interrupt training, to require medical visits and even result in absence from work. It's possible this research will help us develop advice for runners, potential runners and health professionals on ways to prevent these injuries."

The women were runners who trained a minimum of 20 miles-per-week and were not injured when the study began. Participants completed questionnaires on training and medical history, reported running-related injuries during the past 12 months, and completed a 114-item food-frequency questionnaire and the Eating Attitudes Test, a tool designed to measure attitudes toward food and predict disordered-eating behavior.

The participants had their height, weight, body fat, maximal oxygen consumption, lower extremity flexibility and alignment, ground-reaction forces (the forces produced when the foot hits the ground) and balance all evaluated by the researchers.

The participants were monitored every three months for a year following the initial assessment to compile data on their training and running-related injuries.

Amazingly, the final results revealed that 55 percent of the women reported a running injury during the follow-up year, and that injured runners ate significantly fewer calories from fat than those without injuries.

It's crucial to note that the injuries were not linked to age, miles-run-per-week, height, weight, body mass index or percent body fat. Comparisons of injured runners with non-injured runners did not show a total calorie deviation, Horvath noted, but when a statistical model (multiple regression) was developed to predict injury, total calories appeared as important.

Horvath said the lower caloric intake, despite similar energy expenditure and body size of injured and non-injured runners, plus the lower caffeine intake seen in the women with injuries, suggests potential restrictive eating habits.

"This low-caffeine intake may have represented an effort by the runners to avoid foods perceived as 'bad' or 'unhealthy,' such as chocolate and soft drinks," he said. "Although mean scores on the Eating Attitudes Test for both groups were well below the point that would indicate a clinical eating disorder, several runners exhibited restrictive eating patterns.

Kristen Gerlach, a doctoral student who was the lead investigator on the research, said the restrictive eating patterns may have made the runners more vulnerable to injury by diminishing the availability of nutrients used for tissue repair. Low levels of dietary fat also may have resulted in low supplies of energy, she noted, which could contribute to fatigue while running and increase the chance of injury.

"We need more studies to explore the relationship of dietary fat and injuries to separate out the issue of calories versus fat," said Gerlach. "In addition, our results on balance, ground reaction forces and flexibility have to be applied in clinical intervention studies to determine their role in predicting injury."

So ladies, don't skimp on the caffeine (need any better excuse to have your coffee and chocolate too) or the calories. As noted above, in order to prevent injuries you do need to feed you body appropriately. And that means more calories, too. Love that pizza!

Of course, like anything else moderation is the key.

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