22 Jan 2018

Super Rugby players suffer image anxiety - research

12:23 pm on 22 January 2018

New research has revealed New Zealand Super Rugby players are suffering from body anxiety problems.

The Blues train at a session in February 2017

The Blues train at a session in February 2017 Photo: Photosport

Researchers from the University of Otago questioned 26 Super Rugby players during pre-season training and found some struggle to balance eating correctly with the pressure to look good.

In some cases players were binge-eating and even making themselves sick to control their food intake.

The players were given a 49-item questionnaire asking them to rate each part of their body, from 'always happy' with their image to 'never happy'.

Lead author Katherine Black told Nine To Noon's Kathryn Ryan the ways players are trying to control their body image is very unhealthy.

"We're sort of getting up to, not clinical eating disorders, but borderline potential problems, in terms of the way that they're eating - so binge-eating or thinking about making themselves sick to control the amount that they're eating."

The research found young players were particularly vulnerable to body image issues.

High performance sports dietitian Dane Baker, who works with the Chiefs, said players were expending up to 4000 calories a day from exercise alone.

"We are finding it really challenging to convince these guys that they needed to eat enough, not just to optimise their recovery but also to increase muscle mass to compete at a Super Rugby level."

One of the biggest contributing factors to players' body image anxiety was social media, Mr Baker said.

"I think what we are seeing now is a reflection of what we've seen in female athletes - it's been well-documented for the past 20 years that there's a high amount of pressure on body image," he said.

"Nowadays you only have to look on Instagram or Facebook to see those sorts of pressure on young guys."

Dr Black said Super Rugby franchises had a responsibility to better educate young players about the importance of healthy eating to prevent body image anxiety from developing, otherwise the issues could affect players in later life.

-RNZ