Profiles for identifying problematic dietary habits in a sample of recreational Spanish cyclists and triathletes Muros Molina, José Joaquín Knox, Emily Hinojosa Nogueira, Daniel José Rufián Henares, José Ángel Zabala Díaz, Mikel This work was supported by the research project Stance4Health funded by the European Union ' s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant Reference No. 816303) and by the Plan Propio de Investigacion y Transferencia of the University of Granada under the "Intensificacion de la Investigacion, modalidad B" program. There is a lack of sufficient information on the dietary intake and nutritional supplementation of recreational endurance athletes throughout the year. The present observational study sought to assess the dietary intake and nutritional supplementation habits of recreational cyclists and triathletes from Spain. 4,037 cyclists and triathletes completed self-report measures. Nutritional profiles were developed and differences were examined according to sporting discipline and gender. Differences between groups were compared using the Mann–Whitney U or chi-squared test. Next, micro- and macro-nutrients were grouped according to whether or not guideline intake amounts were met. The clustering of dietary habits was then examined via K-means cluster analysis. Triathletes took more supplements than cyclists (X2 = 36.489; p value = .000) and females took more supplements than males (X2 = 5.920; p value = .017). Females and triathletes reported greater protein and CHO consumption than males and cyclists, respectively. Triathletes also reported a higher consumption of total fat, MUFA, PUFA, EPA, DHA and fibre. Females and triathletes tended to consume more vitamins and minerals than males and cyclists, respectively. Two main dietary habit clusters emerged which may be used to inform nutritional interventions targeting recreational athletes not meeting nutritional requirements. There is an imbalance in the main nutrients making up the diet of recreational Spanish athletes, characterised by insufficient CHO and excessive protein. 2021-09-23T10:31:59Z 2021-09-23T10:31:59Z 2021-07-26 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Muros, J.J... [et al.]. Profiles for identifying problematic dietary habits in a sample of recreational Spanish cyclists and triathletes. Sci Rep 11, 15193 (2021). [https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-94660-0] http://hdl.handle.net/10481/70400 10.1038/s41598-021-94660-0 eng info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/816303 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Atribución 3.0 España Nature