Dive Brief:
- Major college athletic programs increased their average annual food budget, including meals, snacks, and dietary supplements to feed athletes, from $534,000 to more than $1.3 million, following the NCAA's lifting of food restrictions one year ago, according to a survey from the Collegiate and Professional Sports Dietitians Association (CPSDA).
- "Limitations were first placed on meals and dietary supplements by the NCAA in 1991 in an attempt to ensure 'competitive balance' between schools," according to a news release. But now that those restrictions have been lifted, more NCAA Division I schools are feeding all of their athletes at an average of 569 athletes, above an average of 368 athletes per school the year before.
- "As registered dietitians, we stressed to athletic directors and coaches the importance of balanced nutrition to make athletes whole again after workouts, practices and games," Amy Freel, director of sports nutrition at Indiana University, said in a statement. "Meal restrictions to preserve competitive balance between schools that have widely varying operating budgets are one thing. But those same schools also have a responsibility to restore athletes’ energy, repair muscle damage, and speed recovery."
Dive Insight:
Companies that have invested in healthier products, such as healthy snacks and sports-related nutrition, such as protein bars, may see some additional sales from the college athlete demographic. Post Holdings has been beefing up its energy bar and nutrition business, having acquired PowerBar and Musashi from Nestle SA last year and adding those to Post's existing brands in that segment, including Premier Nutrition's Premier Protein and Joint Juice brands and Dymatize Enterprises' Dymatize and Supreme brands.
Protein is another trend growing in popularity, so protein snacks are viable options for these athletic programs to purchase. Companies like Hormel have invested in creating snacks out of its meat products, such as Hormel's Spam Snacks and Jennie-O All Natural Turkey Breast Sticks released earlier this year.
Meanwhile, as for sports drinks, consumers are starting to veer away from too much added sugar, which they often contain, despite what celebrity athletes might tell consumers about a particular brand.
