History and Objectives: In order to evaluate the nutritional status of athletes during preparation of important matches and one of the major games in Iran is basketball, the present study will determine the of nutritional intake, body fat and aerobic capacity of basketball athletes of national team in 1997.

Materials and Methods: A cross sectional descriptive study on 14 male basketball players was carried out. The mean age, height, weight and BMI was 25.6±3.1 years, 191±6 centimeters, 87.3±8.1 kilograms and 23.9±1.7 respectively. Weight, BMI, body fat and aerobic capacity on the basis of Oxygen consumption were determined in 3 stages of before the start of training, during the train and after training. In addition nutritional status and food intakes were assessed at the start and end of trainings by determining the food intake in 7 non-interval days. Foods were transferred into the laboratory for determination of proteins, lipids and carbohydrate content.

Results: Weight and BMI variation during training was insignificant. Intradermal fat thickness was reduced from 42.9±13.7 to 34.6±9.9 mm (P<0.02). Maximum Oxygen intake was increased from 42.3±3.3 to 44.5±2.2 mm/kg-min (P<0.05). At the first stage the caloric intake was 3900kcal, which consisted of carbohydrates (50%), protein (15%) and fat (35%). At the second stage the caloric intake was 3600kcal, which consisted of carbohydrates (55%), protein (15%) and fat (30%), which were in normal range. Intake of Iron, calcium and vitamin C was higher than recommended allowance, B1, B2 and Niacin was within the recommended range and vitamin A and B6 was lower than recommended allowance.

Conclusion: The food intake of athletes was within the recommended allowance range. Further research on the assessment of nutritional values taken by athletes, nutrition educational programs for athletes and their coaches and interventional nutritional study of a given nutritional program is suggested.