Introduction: Dietary habits and body composition are possibly two of the most modifiable aspects that influence athletic performance in competition and training, especially in individual sports.
Objective: To determine Mediterranean diet adherence in a group of elite women paddlers and the relationship between these variables with anthropometric parameters and somatotype of the athlete.
Methods: A 90 women cadets who belonged to the national elite canoeing underwent a complete anthropometry according to ISAK instructions; and they selfcompleted KIDMED test to know their adherence to the Mediterranean diet. After that, anthropometric characteristics were compared based on their adherence to the Mediterranean diet.
Results and discussion: One kayaker had a low adherence to the Mediterranean diet, 38 a medium adherence and 51 an excellent adherence. However, one in every three not eats nuts and one in every five makes sweets more than once a day or industrial pastries for breakfast. When it was dividing paddlers based on their Mediterranean diet adherence it was found that the two groups (low and medium adherence and excellent adherence) did not show differences in most of the anthropometric variables, composition body percentages, somatotype and body mass index.
Conclusions: The paddlers show a medium or excellent Mediterranean diet adherence. There was not clear relationship between anthropometric parameters and the degree of Mediterranean diet adherence in these athletes. It is necessary to continue researching the interaction between these fields in order to indentify possible relationships with health and sport performance in elite kayakers.