Not Eating Enough Overcoming Underconsumption of Military Operational Rations (1995) / Chapter Skim
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2 Conclusions and Recommendations
2 Conclusions and Recommendations
Pages 41-54
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National Academy Press Conclusions and Recommenciations As stated in Chapter 1, the Committee on Military Nutrition Research (CMNR) was asked to address five specific questions dealing with strategies to overcome underconsumption of military operational rations.
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Military operational rations are by design all inclusive and do not allow substitution or choice. Failure to provide adequate time, instruction, and encouragement to eat and drink can materially influence consumption.
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Similarly, decrements in cognitive performance appear to begin to occur when weight losses reach 10 percent of baseline. It is likely that greater losses of body fat will not affect cognitive performance, if lean body mass is preserved.
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To overcome possible effects of underconsumption on physical and cognitive performance, efforts should continue to increase the overall consumption of rations by military personnel in the field through a variety of approaches, which include establishing a geld feeding doctrine at all levels within the command structure down to the individual soldier. Such a field feeding doctrine would include definitions of adequate food intake for soldiers in military operations and the potential consequences to performance and health of not eating enough.
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This question will be addressed in the last section of this chapter, Areas for Future Research. CONCLUSIONS The Underconsumption Problem Studies of field training exercises typically report underconsumption of military operational rations.
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Factors other than ration quality or food acceptance including food temperature and variety, as well as situational factors and logistics, can have a major impact on consumption of military operational rations. ~VI1~J-~L ~^ ~-~~ ~,~ ,^ ~ Potential Effects of Underconsumption on Performance The significance of underconsumption, with its consequent loss in body weight, is its impact on physical and cognitive performance.
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Strategies to Overcome Underconsumption Underconsumption of military operational rations is undoubtedly a multifaceted problem: Ration factors, such as ration image, palatability of individual components, nutrient density, variety, meal and meal item appropriateness for the time of day, and fluid intake, contribute to the general level of acceptance. · Situational factors, such as eating location, social setting, and allowing sufficient time to eat and drink during deployment and in the field, as well as appropriate meal scheduling with consideration of changes in circadian rhythms, are likely to be important.
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Then a field feeding doctrine could be developed in which each of these major factors is quantified, enabling field commanders to make informed choices relative to the situations in the military operation. Significant efforts on the part of the U.S.
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RECOMMENDATIONS The goal of field feeding is to provide sufficient water, food energy, and nutrients to maintain the soldier's hydration status, body weight, and lean body mass. Afieldieeding doctrine should be crafted that incorporates the types and amounts of food offered, issues related to environmental extremes, and actions to be taken with excessive weight loss in the field.
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Since there is evidence that the provision of A or B type rations in training environments does more nearly match energy intake with energy expenditure, it seems important to evaluate the new Army Field Feeding System under operational training environment as early as possible. If this system succeeds in minimizing underconsumption during these training exercises, the focus of research on MREs, T Rations, and other operational rations could be related to evaluating factors that in the short term (3-21 days)
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As a minimum, body weight measures should be done routinely as part of deployment and return activities. Weight losses in the range of 10 percent in operations extending over 4 weeks raise the concern of reduced physical and cognitive performance and have ..
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have conscientiously followed this issue and conducted carefully planned research programs that have evaluated the impact of food-intake patterns on performance and the factors influencing food intake. The following are suggested by the CMNR as future areas for study that would build on this excellent research base: Follow-up interviews with soldiers who participated in Operation Desert Stonn that include direct questions about weight loss, food intake, and appetite as well as questions about food items and situational factors would be an important step in interpretation of experimental data.
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Carefully designed menu rotation studies that incorporate current understanding of the impact of variety, sensory specific satiety, temporal habituation patterns, energy density, the fat and fiber content of foods, and palatability on intake and body weight could provide directly relevant Information. · A brief study that systematically administered ibuprofen to troops in field exercises could provide information on a potential generalized stress/cytokine/ food intake mechanism.
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REFERENCES Rose, M.S., and D.E. Carlson 1986 Effects of A Ration meals on body weight during sustained field operations.
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