Background: The Chilean Ministry of Health proposed the use of "Mini Nutritional Assessment", to identify elders at nutritional risk. This score considers anthropometric, dietary and quality of life items. Aim: To assess the concordance of the mini nutritional assessment with body mass index and dietary parameters in Chilean free living elders. Material and methods: Subjects aged 70 years old or more, coming from four public outpatient clinics were studied. In all, the mini nutritional assessment, dietary intake using 24 h recalls and anthropometric parameters, were measured. Energy intake was evaluated using FAO/WHO/UNU guidelines. Micronutrient intake was evaluated using the Dietary Recommended Intakes (DRI) from USA. Kappa index was used to determine diagnostic concordance. Results: Forty three percent of subjects were overweight or obese. There was a substandard intake of calcium, folate, zinc, vitamin A, C, E, B6, B12 and energy. Seventy nine percent of subjects had a deficient or regular food intake. Mini nutritional assessment score was normal in 66% of subjects. Fifty eight percent of those with a deficient food intake had a normal mini nutritional assessment. On the other hand, 73% of those considered at nutritional risk, had a normal or excessive weight. Conclusions: Mini nutritional assessment did not identify elders at nutritional risk in this sample (Rev Méd Chile 2001; 129: 871-6).