The objective of the study was to evaluate the nutritional status and to identify the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in amateur soccer practitioners. 32 men (39.0 ± 6.4 years) were studied with habitual soccer practice. Nutritional status was evaluated through Body Mass Index (BMI) and the World Health Organization guidelines, and the metabolic syndrome by the International Diabetes Federation criterion that considers for the male sex, besides central obesity (waist circumference > 90cm), two or more of the following conditions: triglyceridemia > 150mg/dl; HDL levels < 40mg/dl; systolic pressure > 130mmHg or diastolic > 85mm/Hg; and fasting glycemia > 100mg/dl. Statistical analysis processed descriptive data of percentages, mean, minimum, maximum, standard deviation and inference of correlations between variable pairs through the "r" coefficient of Pearson. Significance level adopted was of p < 0.05. The found results showed that 43.8% of the soccer players are eutrophic, 43.8% are overweighed and 12.5% are obese. Occurrence of metabolic syndrome was 37.5% and their most prevalent components were: 59.4% abdominal obesity, 40.6% hypertension, 34.4% hypertriglyceridemia, 28.1% HDL-C and 15.6% fasting glycemia. BMI presented more remarkable correlation with waist circumference (r=0.918). CONCLUSION: The investigated soccer players presented overweight and obesity occurrence in their nutritional status and in spite of lower frequency of metabolic syndrome here than in other epidemic studies, it is believed that besides the practice of physical activity, these sportsmen should adopt other healthy behavior such as good eating habits and stress control.
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