Within a larger study of social network and nutrition, we investigated measurements of nutritional status and health related quality of life. To relate a well-established questionnaire of nutritional status (MNA) to a likewise well-established questionnaire of health related quality of life (SF-36) in community dwelling, free-living and, healthy 70-75 years old persons. Before an interview, the MNA and SF-36 questionnaires were filled in by 128 participants from a sample of 262 subjects. The MNA worked well as a measurement in this sample. Many MNA aspects correlated with the SF-36 scales. The correlations between MNA total score and the eight SF-36 scales varied from .27 to .62. This correlation was partly due to the fact that MNA has questions of health but also to the fact that there is an empirical relation between nutrition and health. The MNA measurement is applicable to a healthy, free-living elderly population and parts of the MNA can be interpreted as measurements of health related quality of life. Low values of SF-36 could also be used as predictors of risk of malnutrition, although further studies are required to confirm this result.