1. Friday,
February
12,
2010
Sponsored by the SUNY Oneonta Grants Development Office, Division of College Advancement, Office
of the Provost, Division of Finance & Administration
Lawrence T. Guzy, PhD (Psychology), William R. Proulx, PhD (Human Ecology), Travis A.
Parent, MS, ATC (Athletics), Corey Ranno, Austin Fox, Adam Guillaume, Mike Toomey,
Rebekah Cramer, Joseph Efrein, Jaclyn Kassoff, Elisabeth Levine, Gina McAteer (SUNY
Oneonta students):
Skin Folds & Air Displacement Plethysomography, Saliva Osmolality & Urine Refractometry,
and Taste Perception and the Three Factor Eating Scale with College Wrestlers
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) requires potential wrestlers to be fully
hydrated when identifying Body Composition (BC), which is used to identify wrestlers’
minimum weight class and certify them to start practice sessions. We compared two different
techniques to identify: 1) hydration levels (HL) – refractometry of a urine sample (required by the
NCAA), as well as a novel technique identifying the osmolality of saliva using a Fiske Model 210
Freeze Point Depression Osmometer; and 2) three-site skin-fold (SF) subcutaneous fat thickness,
measured with calipers, followed by air displacement plethysmography (ADP, a.k.a. the “Bod
Pod”), considered the practical gold standard for identifying BC. We also examined whether the
ability to taste food was related to the three subscales of Hunger, Cognitive Restraint, and
Disinhibition using the Three-Factor Eating Scale (among questions from the Three-Factor Eating
Scale: “When I feel blue, I often overeat;” “Being with someone who is eating makes me hungry
enough to eat;” “I take small helpings as a means of controlling my weight”). Taste perception
ranges from that of a “non-taster” (having very few taste buds in a six-mm circle) to that of a
“super-taster” (having 35 or more taste buds in the circle). Blue food coloring facilitates the
counting of taste buds, as the buds do not stain blue. All procedures were approved by the SUNY
Oneonta Institutional Review Board (IRB).
Fifty wrestlers, ranging in age from 18-22 years, volunteered. A certified Bod Pod technician and
athletic trainer obtained ADP and SF results, respectively. Body Composition: A significant
positive correlation was found between SF and ADP, r (48) = 0.95, p < .001. Either technique is
appropriate and valid for identifying BC; however, SF may be prone to error, as it relies on the
skill level of the technician. The ADP may be more accurate as it is computer software-driven.
Hydration Level: No relationship was found between hydration status using urine refractometry
and saliva osmolality; this finding raises the question of which technique is a valid measure of
present status hydration level. Taste Buds and Three Factor Eating Scale: No relationship was
found between the number of taste buds and its relationship to the three subscales of the Three-
Factor Eating Scale; however, only 13 participants volunteered for identification of taste buds.
Future plans for HL research include identifying which is the most appropriate method for
determining hydration levels. As to taste perception, we seek to increase the number of
participants, and to include a test for the ability to detect the chemical PROP, which is very bitter
tasting to super-tasters but not detected by non-tasters, as a validity check of the accuracy of
counting taste buds. Overall, the project could also expand the participant pool to include the
general campus community.
Morris
Conference
Center
SUNY
College
at
Oneonta
State