Anthropometric and food consumption evaluation of professional football players

For a football player to have a good perform, it is necessary training and proper nutrition. The energy demand of the training and competitions is high, in this way the athletes need a good dietary intake, mainly rich in carbohydrates. In this context, the present study intends to evaluate the nutritional status and eating habits of football players of the Uniao Frederiquense de Frederico Westphalen-RS team. It is a transversal, quantitative, descriptive, and analytical study. The sample was composed of 18 male football players, with a mean age of 24.22 +/- 5.86 years. The evaluations were realized during a competition period, where an anthropometric evaluation was performed considering weight, height and % of body fat. The food intake of the players was calculated through the 24-hour food recall. Regarding the anthropometric evaluation, presented a weight of 75.6 +/- 6.8 kg, height of 1.79 +/- 0.07 m and average body fat percentage of 10.49 +/- 1.94%, which is classified within the ideal values. The mean Kcal consumption was 2.615 +/- 510.12 Kcal / day, an average of 49% of CHO, 21% of PTN and 30% of LIP. The athletes presented energy and carbohydrate intake below that recommended and did not reach the minimum recommendations of most micronutrients, only of potassium, vitamin C and B-12. It was concluded that the athletes presented adequate body composition, however, the food consumption, mainly the caloric intake was below the recommended values. A better insight about the importance of fooding (micronutrient and macro) and hydration will influence sports performance of players.