Seasonal changes in body composition and cardiometabolic health biomarkers in professional soccer players: a longitudinal study

Abstract

Variations in body composition and cardiometabolic health biomarkers may affect the physical performance of elite athletes throughout the season. To investigate the changes in body composition, cardiometabolic health biomarkers and food consumption throughout the season of male professional soccer players. Implementing a longitudinal design, sixteen athletes (25.8 ± 3.1 years, 181.0 ± 6.1 cm, 79.2 ± 6.2 kg) underwent anthropometric and biochemical evaluation in three different moments (T0, T1 and T2) every 16 weeks throughout the season and food consumption was evaluated in the end season. There was a significant reduction in body fat at the end of the season (T1 vs T2: 11.4 ± 1.5% vs 10.8 ± 1.3%; p = 0.007) and a modest increase in fat-free mass at the same point (T1 vs T2: 48.7 ± 1.4% vs 49.0 ± 1.2%; p = 0.016) with no changes in weight. There was a significant reduction in fasting blood glucose at the end of season (T1 vs T2: 86.6 ± 3.72 mg/dl vs 77.2 ± 4.2 mg/dl; p = 0.000).A reduced hemoglobin concentration was found (T0 vs T2: 15.7 ± 0.8 mg/dl vs 15.0 ± 0.7 mg/dl; p = 0.008), but no changes in hematocrit were observed during the season (p = 0.955). The food consumption of the athletes presented a reduced intake in cereals and pasta (p = 0.000), fruits (p = 0.026) and vegetables (p = 0.000) at the end of the season. Elite soccer players presented modest improvement or sustained values in body composition and cardiometabolic health biomarkers during the season, despite nutritional inadequacies being observed.