Introduction: Soccer practice is continually growing worldwide and the discover of new talents is a priority in this sport. It is known that there is a correlation between body composition (BC) and talent detection (TD) and when coaches select players, they tend to choose them with optimum BC. It is also known that when the soccer competition level increases, players become leaner, bigger and taller. Optimum BC depends of genetics but also have a direct correlation with nutritional intake (NI) of players. The aim was to analyze the correlation between NI and BC in two football teams with identical training load but different performance level and to observe the influence of NI and BC in TD. Methods: A descriptive study was carried out with 14 players (17.5±0.7 years old) belonging to the same club: 8 playing in the higher level team (A) and 6 playing in the lower level (B) team, differentiated according to the subjective criterion of coach. NI was assessed with 7-day food diary (household measures, 3 days). BC was assessed by anthropometric (ISAK) and % fat mass and % muscle mass were calculated by formulas. (Poortmans et al., 2005; Slaughter et al., 1988) Statistics: for team comparison a Mann-Whitney U was used and Pearson`s correlations were calculated between variables. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05 Results: Players did not meet nutritional recommendations with a notably deficiency in carbohydrate intake (4.4±0.5g/Kg Weight (W)/day for team A and 4.5±0.5g/Kg W/day for team B). It has been observed a significant difference in protein consumption between team A and B (120±13.1g for team A and 105.2±9.8g for team B; p<0.05). Moreover, team A had leaner bodies (11.1±1.5% fat mass (team A) vs. 17.8±6.7 (team B) (p<0.05)) and it was a negative correlation between % fat mass and protein intake (p<0.05) for both groups. Discussion: This study shows an important correlation between TD and BC as was described in previous studies with team sports (e.g.: Torres-Unda et al., 2013) and also between NI and some anthropometric parameters. Therefore, it could be assumed that exits an indirect relationship between nutritional intake of this athletes and TD, so that noncompliance with recommendations could be limiting the maximum potential development of this players and therefore cause a loss of potential talents.
© Copyright 2016 21st Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS), Vienna, 6. -9. July 2016. Published by University of Vienna. All rights reserved.