Not Eating Enough Overcoming Underconsumption of Military Operational Rations (1995) / Chapter Skim
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9 The Effects of Ration Modifications on Energy Intake, Body Weight Change
9 The Effects of Ration Modifications on Energy Intake, Body Weight Change
Pages 151-174
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From page 151... ...
National Academy Press 9 The Effects of Ration Mollifications on Energy Intake, Dolly Weight Change' and Foocl Acceptance Ec~ward Hirsch' INTRODUCTION Over the past 10 years military rations have undergone extensive testing, during field training exercises (Hirsch and Kramer, 1993; see Baker-Fulco, Chapter 8 in this volume)
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From page 152... ...
When the MRE was introduced into the military feeding system, there was considerable interest among military planners and logisticians in having troops subsist on operational rations as their sole source of food for lengthy periods of time. For this reason the initial test of the MRE was designed to determine the consequences of prolonged feeding of this ration to troops during an extended field training exercise (Hirsch et al., 1985~.
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From page 153... ...
Feeding the MRE for 44 days under laboratory conditions, therefore, did not appear to be a problem. In contrast, when the identical ration was fed to troops under field conditions for 34 days, energy intake averaged 2,189 calories, and troops lost 4.8 percent of their original body weight, despite reporting the MRE to be quite acceptable with an average hedonic rating of 7 (Fox et al., 1989; Hirsch et al., 1985; Lichton et al., 1988; Wenkam et al., 1989~.
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From page 154... ...
The changes in MRE VIII were relatively minor compared to an experimental version of the ration called the Improved MRE. As Table 9-2 indicates, the Improved MRE retained the same structure and types of food as earlier versions, but the majority of the items in each food class was new and different.
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From page 155... ...
The Improved MRE was rated significantly higher than MRE IV TABLE 9-4 Acceptance Ratings of Three Versions of the MRE by Food Class Acceptance Rating Food Class Improved MRE MRE VII MRE IV Entree 7.6 6.8t 5.7$ Starch 7.4 7.0t 6.0: Spread 7.7. 7.4 ~6.6: Fruit 8.3 7.5t 6.9+ Dessert 7.4 7.4 ~6.5+ Fruit beverage 8.3 8.2 Other beverage 8.2*
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From page 156... ...
The two different supplement packs provided a total of six new foods arid either 661 or 821 additional calories. Figure 9-1 shows that the supplement pack had large and consistent effects on energy intake in troops fed either the MRE VI or the MRE VIII.
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From page 157... ...
Not only was the supplement eaten almost in its entirety but the supplemented groups also ate more of the MRE: 215 kcal in the case of the MRE VI group and 11 1 kcal for the MRE VIII group. The items in the supplement pack were well received by the soldiers, with average acceptance ratings in the two groups ranging from 6.67 to 8.86 on a 9-point scale.
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From page 158... ...
Figure 9-3 shows that the higher level of intake of the SEP MRE was accompanied by higher acceptance ratings of the items in almost every _ SEP O MRE 3500 3000 2500 2000 1nnn DAY FIGURE 9-2 Mean daily energy intake in troops fed the SEP (Soldier Enhancement Program) MRE or MRE VIII during a field training exercise.
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From page 159... ...
Hot Bev. Cold Candy Other 159 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ACCEPTANCE RATING MRE FIGURE 9-3 Mean acceptance ratings by food group for the SEP (Soldier Enhancement Program)
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From page 160... ...
The FY1989 ration group consumed 2,888 kcal/d and lost 1.5 percent of their initial body weight, whereas the FY1990 ration group consumed 2,880 kcal/d and lost 1.0 percent of their initial body weight. 3 The term menu cycle refers to the length of time that unique meals are served.
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From page 161... ...
Further changes to the T Ration were implemented, and a 7-d field test was conducted to compare the FY1990 version of the ration to a newer FYl990 version that had two new breakfast and three new lunch-dinner menus containing 10 new food items (Kramer et al., 1993~. In this test the group fed the old version of the ration consumed more calories and rated the various classes offoodin the TRationas more acceptable.
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From page 162... ...
CONDITIONS FOR RATION IMPROVEMENT In an effort to define the conditions that produce genuine ration improvements, each of the studies considered previously was analyzed for the magnitude of changes in the ration, as well as the nature of any changes in food intake and ration acceptability produced by ration modifications (Table 8-79. To provide a common basis for comparing ration changes, a measure' percent change, was derived.
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From page 163... ...
The two T Ration studies listed in Table 9-7 can be regarded as item replacement studies, but they do not provide any real evidence on the issue of item replacement versus variety as the magnitude of ration change was probably too small to realistically expect changes in food consumption and overall ration acceptance. The Role of Variety One interpretation of the improved consumption and consumer acceptance in the ration modification studies is that these changes resulted from increased variety in the ration system.
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From page 164... ...
A somewhat more varied diet, comprising military ration items, was tested under both field and laboratory conditions for periods ranging from 3 days to 5 weeks (Kamen and Peryam, 1961; Schutz and Pilgrim, 1958; Siegel and Pilgrim, 1958~. A common finding in these studies was that food acceptability and consumption tended to decline over time, and the most palatable food items declined the least in acceptability.
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From page 165... ...
Many military units spend several months a year in the field eating operational rations during training exercises. Looking at the performance of a particular ration over time suggests that food monotony will occur in this setting (see Kramer, Chapter 17 in this volume)
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From page 166... ...
Bell, and W.T. Mathew 1987 Field evaluation of Improved MRE, MRE VII, and MRE IV.
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From page 167... ...
The MRE group was slightly below requirement as defined by the 1 ~/2-pound weight loss.
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From page 168... ...
HOWARD MOSKOWITZ: There may be another way of looking at this data. Instead of looking at it as an item by item analysis, field versus lab, try to do a content analysis of what is present in these foods in terms of textural characteristics and other characteristics such as appearance, size, and ease of chewing.
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From page 169... ...
I think with that type of a paradigm, you will never have a relationship of acceptability ratings to actual consumption. An alternative needs to be pursued, perhaps one that deals with characteristics of the food items.
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From page 170... ...
EDWARD HIRSCH: I think the data Cory Baker-Fulco was referring to was in garrison where they are getting freshly prepared food as opposed to operational rations. PRISCILLA DOLLOFF-CRANE: I thought I remembered this morning where you made a comparison between garrison and in field feeding and getting the
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From page 171... ...
And I think it's an opportunity staring us in the face in terms of being able to do assessments to do a natural study collecting, starting and ending data without intruding the experimental force in terms of the mechanics of the day to day. Because one of the other things that happens when we do the two week field test assessment is that the intrusion of the measuring tool definitely has an impact.
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From page 172... ...
It would be great if we could get the 7 , , , it, ~ data, but we will never get that. However, those finer assessments are the ones that are really critical in terms of the diminished performance after a 10 or 15 pound weight loss.
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From page 173... ...
I mean that's automatic. So maybe the question is you can either give a unit a surprise PT test, a non-scheduled PT test, get that information and then pull them out of these things, allow them proper sleep, because that's one thing about a returning unit is that normally the sleep deprivation is really severe, give them a day or two of returning to normal sleep patterns, and then pop a test on them at that point, I would feel much more comfortable about that information.
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From page 174... ...
Fluid intake and its effect on energy intake and hydration are the subjects of Chapter 12. As part of the Meal, Ready-to-Eat package, research shows that beverage products account for close to 20 percent of energy intake.
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