Body Composition, Body Image, Dietary Intake, and Nutritional Knowledge Assessment among Ballerinas in Jakarta

Abstract

Negative body image, poor dietary habits, and poor nutritional knowledge are often considered as the major risk factors of nutritional problems among ballerinas. However, only few studies, especially in Indonesia, are available to map out the nutritional status and nutritional recommendation for ballerinas. The aims of this study were to assess the nutritional status among ballerinas in Jakarta from their body composition in relation to their body image, food intake, and nutritional knowledge. The design of the study was cross-sectional study with purposive sampling from several ballet schools across Jakarta and Bekasi. Fifty-two participants had body composition, Stunkard figure rating scale, Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ), and General Nutritional Knowledge Questionnaire (GNKQ) measurements. From 52 participants, the results showed that majority of ballet dancers were distributed in the normal range level of body composition (>50%), negative body image perception (65.4%), normal to high of dietary diversity (>49%), normal dietary intake (>71%), as well as in low nutritional knowledge score (67.3%). Also, ballerinas with overweight BMI had significantly higher BF, FFM, FFMI, MM, and MMI, except TBW (P<0.05). The body composition was associated with body image and dietary diversity (P<0.05). In conclusion, it is found that body composition outside the normal range was associated with low body image score and low dietary intake. Future studies on nutrition in relation to ballerina muscle strength and flexibility with large population samples are needed.