A meeting at Expo on diet and sport: alimentary, Watson!

Can diet influence sports performance? Can we optimise performance while avoiding side effects? Do the various moments of sport required different dietary approaches? Bracco Foundation answered these and many other questions during the workshop “Alimentary Watson! Performance in sport and dance”, promoted in collaboration with La Scala Theatre Academy and with the patronage of the Ministry of Health.

The meeting, which took place on the morning of Monday, September 7 at Expo Milan 2015, was dedicated to the topic of diet in amateur and competitive sports as a fundamental element in performance, with the aim of promoting awareness on how dietary choices influence the activity and health of athletes.

During the meeting doctors, scientists and specialists, in addition to 2 exceptional testimonials such as Oriella Dorella and the former Inter defender Ivan Cordoba who brought their accounts and experiences, spoke on a topic that is fundamental for all those who practice sport and dance, that is the correct nutritional and energy requirements needed to tackle the various moments of sporting activity: training, performance and recovery.

After a welcome by the director-general of La Scala Academy Luisa Vinci, the workshop opened with a scientific contribution from Rodolfo Tavana, health director of Milan, and Piero Volpi, medical staff coordinator of Inter. Later speakers were Luca Mondazzi, specialist in Dietary Science at the Mapei Sport Research Centre, Roberta Cazzola, lecturer in Nutritional Biochemistry at the Milan Università degli Studi and Benvenuto Cestaro, Director of the Dietary Science Specialisation School at the Milan Università degli Studi and scientific director of the workshop.

The convention, with moderator Francesco Rocchi, one of the best-known faces of RaiSport, ended with a roundtable on dietary aspects of professional ballet dancers and the relationship between young people and sport with Omar De Bartolomeo, Orthopaedist of La Scala Theatre and medical director of the La Scala Theatre Academy School of Ballet, and Raffaella Lorenzut, HR Corporate Director of the Bracco Group.