Investigation of the level of nutritional knowledge of amateur athletes and their attitudes and beliefs toward nutritional supplements

Abstract

This study aimed to examine whether nutritional knowledge predicts supplement-related beliefs among amateur athletes. A total of 404 volunteer amateur athletes participated in this relational survey study. Data were collected using a personal information form, the Nutrition Knowledge Scale, and the Sports Supplements Belief Scale. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests, Pearson correlation analysis, and linear regression analysis were performed. The results indicated that women had significantly higher nutritional knowledge scores than men (p < .001, d ≈ 0.39), whereas supplement-related belief scores did not differ by gender (p > .05, d ≈ 0.08). Nutritional knowledge and supplement-related beliefs were positively and weakly correlated (r = .151, p = .002). Regression analysis showed that nutritional knowledge significantly predicted supplement-related beliefs; however, the explained variance was low (R² = .023, adjusted R² = .021). These findings suggest that higher nutritional knowledge may be associated with stronger beliefs regarding the perceived benefits of sports supplements, although additional factors are likely to play a greater role in shaping athletes’ supplement-related beliefs and decisions.