Nutritional Knowledge Among female Pilates and Yoga practitioners

Purpose to assess the nutritional knowledge among female Pilates and yoga practitioners. Additionally, we will explore associated factors such as hormonal phase, education status, and practising other types of training. Methods thirty participants from Mindful movement studio and House of Lyla in Gravesend, Kent completed the validated Abridged Nutrition Knowledge Survey Questionnaire (ANKSQ). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, knowledge categorisation, one-sample t-tests against adequacy benchmarks, subgroup comparisons (ANOVA, Welch’s ANOVA with Games–Howell tests, and independent-samples t-tests), Pearson’s correlations, and linear regression. Effect sizes were reported for all analyses. Results mean score was 48.9% (SD 9.4), significantly below the “good” knowledge benchmark (p < 0.001). Nearly half of participants had “poor” knowledge, and none had “excellent”. Higher education and perimenopausal/menopausal status were linked to better scores; practice type and training habits had a limited impact. Participants primarily used internet/social media or fitness coaches for nutrition information; evidence-based sources (dietitians, academic journals) were seldom used. Conclusion female Pilates and yoga practitioners demonstrated limited nutrition knowledge, shaped primarily by an educational background rather than training behaviours. The heavy reliance on informal sources highlights the need for accessible, evidence-based nutrition education tailored to this population and across women’s life stages.