{"id":303619,"date":"2017-04-01T16:37:19","date_gmt":"2017-04-01T15:37:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/?p=303619"},"modified":"2017-08-17T21:51:34","modified_gmt":"2017-08-17T20:51:34","slug":"diet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/diet\/","title":{"rendered":"Wigan Warriors tackle diet with first-of-its-kind sports nutrition trial with YorkTest food intolerence experts.  A personalised \u2018diet DNA\u2019 approach adapted for food intolerances helps rugby team to the top >> www.yorktest.com"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Wigan Warriors tackle diet with first-of-its-kind sports nutrition trial\u00a0with YorkTest food intolerence experts<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><u>A personalised \u2018diet DNA\u2019 approach adapted for food intolerances helps rugby team to the top<\/u><\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">&gt;&gt;\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.yorktest.com\/\">www.yorktest.com<\/a><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Wigan Warriors Rugby League Club clinched the Super League title in 2016 \u2013 after completing an in-depth nutritional trial that is the first of its kind in sport.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">The Warriors threw everything they had at last season\u2019s Super League competition, and their cause was boosted following a significant health trial involving 24 first team players who each put their bodies and diets under the microscope for three months in a bid to reach peak performance.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">The Club\u2019s nutritionist, Ed Tooley, enlisted the help of food intolerance experts <a href=\"http:\/\/www.yorktest.com\">YorkTest<\/a> Laboratories, to put the players through their paces. With the support of YorkTest\u2019s Tom Cookson, each participant underwent blood tests to identify food intolerances that could be impacting upon their health and match fitness.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">The trial began in January 2016, with the aim of tackling symptoms such as fatigue (an issue flagged by 87% of the players), muscular-skeletal pain (a complaint for 75%) maintaining weight gain (67% identified as a problem), alongside migraine, low energy, joint pains, skin and respiratory conditions and digestive complaints. The study revealed that:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<li>58% of the players participating felt their symptoms negatively affected their on-pitch performance<\/li>\n<li>Some team members had been experiencing problems for over 10 years<\/li>\n<li>67% felt their performance improved as a direct result of their new diet<\/li>\n<li>83% vowed to stick to the dietary changes made.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">England international Dan Sarginson (pictured) was advised to avoid eggs, yeast and soya in a bid to keep fatigue at bay. He explained: \u201cFor more than a year I\u2019ve felt that tiredness has had an impact on my performance on the pitch. Since limiting my reactive foods, my energy levels totally improved \u2013 I felt a 100% improvement within a week. And when I ate problem foods my symptoms came back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Highly rated centre Oliver Gildart had suffered debilitating migraines for more than ten years, with episodes several times per month. After limiting reactive foods, including cow\u2019s milk the migraines have stopped completely.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Dr Gill Hart, Scientific Director of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.yorktest.com\">YorkTest<\/a> , who led the pilot, advised: \u201cIt\u2019s important not to generalise or assume that certain symptoms mean you have the specific intolerances \u2013 your \u2018triggers\u2019 are as unique as your DNA. \u00a0After all, we all have digestive systems that are specific to us. This type of study with a team of professional rugby players has never been done before and what we found is that a diet personalised to account for food intolerances can have a crucial, proven and lasting impact on sporting performance, as well as individual health and wellness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">The players completed questionnaires about their health, performance and fitness levels at baseline (Day 0) and then after 1 month and 3 months, with medical metrics also captured.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Results of the blood tests (which measure food-specific IgG antibody reactions analysed at YorkTest\u2019s fully accredited UK laboratory) revealed some players had sensitivities to up to 20 food items, with an average of seven intolerances among the team members.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Under supervision of the team\u2019s Performance Nutritionist Ed Tooley, players were provided with individual strategies, eliminating their personal \u2018trigger\u2019 foods thanks to team chef Marti Cameron supporting the dietary changes required with bespoke meals at their training ground.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Ed, who has spent seven seasons working with the Warriors, explains: \u201cI\u2019ve recommended YorkTest programmes with other professional sports players, from footballers, athletes to tennis players, and seen first-hand the results it can deliver to improve performance. For this particular study, we took it to the highest level and had the backing from the entire Club, including the performance team, players and catering.\u00a0 With nutritional guidance sometimes sports professionals have so much to focus on that they\u2019ll adopt new practices in a phased or ad hoc way rather than making an habitual change, so the fact that the majority of the first team have committed to new diets to eliminate their personal intolerances is a great endorsement. We hope the results continue to be reflected on the pitch and sets the Warriors on course to win some silverware this season.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Mark Bitcon, Head of Performance, added: \u201cNutrition is fundamental to helping the team compete during a busy, sometimes punishing match schedule, as well as for support recovery and regeneration. It\u2019s something that it\u2019s crucial to get right. The performance team is always looking at new techniques and with this approach the Club is showing it will leave no stone unturned to get the team out there performing to our very best.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Dr Gill Hart commented: \u201cAs sports professionals, the importance of diet to performance can\u2019t be underestimated, so it\u2019s vital to acknowledge the impact of food intolerances on the body.\u00a0 If the immune system is reacting to foods it sees as hostile, this may result in symptoms that present a barrier to these players being the very best they could be.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u201cImportantly, this isn\u2019t about just following a nutritious eating plan because it\u2019s possible that \u2018healthy\u2019 foods could be causing problems. At YorkTest we passionately believe that when it comes to diet one size does not fit all, and this is especially true for sports players whose life and livelihood depends upon being at a peak of health and fitness. This research backs up our belief in the importance of a personalised \u2018food fingerprint\u2019 to aid wellbeing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.yorktest.com\/products\/food-drink-scan-test\/\">YorkTest\u2019s Food &amp; Drink Scan programme<\/a>, priced at \u00a3299, analyses a person\u2019s IgG reaction to 158 food and drinks. After identifying intolerances, the company\u2019s team of experts provide nutritional advice to replace problem foods whilst maintaining a balanced and healthy diet.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Find Out More At :-\u00a0&gt;&gt;\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.yorktest.com\/\">www.yorktest.com<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wigan Warriors tackle diet with first-of-its-kind sports nutrition trial\u00a0with YorkTest food intolerence experts A personalised \u2018diet DNA\u2019 approach adapted for food intolerances helps rugby team to the top &gt;&gt;\u00a0www.yorktest.com Wigan Warriors Rugby League Club clinched the Super League title in 2016 \u2013 after completing an in-depth nutritional trial that is the first of its kind [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3874,13170,22207,17428,22208,10523,5747,6298,12181,5255,15054,6016,22206],"class_list":["post-303619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clubs","tag-diet","tag-experts","tag-first-of-its-kind","tag-food","tag-intolerence","tag-nutrition","tag-sports","tag-tackle","tag-trial","tag-warriors","tag-wigan","tag-with","tag-yorktest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303619"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":343382,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303619\/revisions\/343382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}