AND/DC/ACSM Position Stand: Nutrition and Athletic Performance
Main caveat: Position stand (2016): consensus targets, not a trial; the abstract gives none of the numbers, so the table rests on the full text.
Overview
The joint position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dietitians of Canada and the American College of Sports Medicine: performance in, and recovery from, sport are enhanced by well-chosen nutrition strategies.
The paper gives guidelines on the type, amount and timing of food, fluid and supplement intake across training and competition scenarios, covers emerging trends in sports nutrition, and recommends that athletes be referred to a registered dietitian nutritionist (in the US and Canada, the Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics) for an individualized plan.
The abstract itself contains no numerical targets; the table below is taken from the body of the position stand.
Key Findings (recommendations)
| Parameter | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Carbohydrate (moderate load) | 5-7 g/kg/day (full text) |
| Carbohydrate (high load) | 6-10 g/kg/day (full text) |
| During exercise | 30-60 g/h, up to 90 g/h for >2.5 h (full text) |
| Protein | 1.2-2.0 g/kg/day (full text) |
| Multiple transporters | Required for >2 h (full text) |
Example (athlete 80-85 kg; arithmetic on the full-text ranges above)
Training days: 410-570 g carbohydrate/day (5-7 g/kg; arithmetic on the full text range)
Heavy days: 490-820 g/day (6-10 g/kg; arithmetic on the full text range)
Protein: 98-164 g/day (1.2-2.0 g/kg; arithmetic on the full text range)
Practical Application
The three-body position stand is the reference for daily and in-race macronutrient targets: carbohydrate scaled to the training load (5-7 g/kg/day for moderate, 6-10 for high — full text; not checked against the abstract), protein 1.2-2.0 g/kg/day, 30-60 g/h of carbohydrate during exercise rising to about 90 g/h for events over 2.5 h; the abstract's own message is that these should be individualized with a sports dietitian.
Not from this paper; the base's own practice: for masters athletes we raise the protein target toward 1.6-2.2 g/kg/day (REF-348) because of anabolic resistance; the carbohydrate ranges are used as given.
Inference, not tested here: the "high load" carbohydrate range is for weeks of heavy training, not for every day of a recovery week — match the range to the week's load, not the season's.
Limitations
Position stand (2016): consensus targets, not a trial; the abstract gives none of the numbers, so the table rests on the full text.
Ranges are population-level; individual tolerance, body composition goals and event duration move an athlete within (or outside) them.
How this entry was checked and changed
Content correction 2026-09-27
The abstract contains no numerical recommendations; the table and worked example are now labelled as full-text figures, and a Practical Application section (the entry had no lead line) was added.
Masters protein adjustment labelled as the base's own practice with its source (REF-348).
Content correction 2026-10-28
Journal line: added the identifiers of the MSSE co-publication, DOI 10.1249/MSS.0000000000000852 and PMID 26891166, checked 2026-10-28.Crossref resolves the DOI to "Nutrition and Athletic Performance", Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 48(3):543-568, March 2016 (its record lists no authors); Europe PMC maps the same DOI to PMID 26891166, "American College of Sports Medicine Joint Position Statement.Nutrition and Athletic Performance", by Thomas DT, Erdman KA and Burke LM, the three authors Crossref lists for this entry's DOI. The entry's own DOI (the JAND version) is unchanged.
Applicability: "(see REF-348, PROT-AGE 1.6-2.2 g/kg)" → "(REF-348, PROT-AGE 1.6-2.2 g/kg)". The parser's stub test reads "see REF" in an entry's head as a redirect, so this full entry was flagged "stub/deprecated", which keeps an entry off the public science pages; only the wording of the pointer changes.