Bartlett Carrissa G, Stankorb Susan
U.S. Military Baylor Graduate Program in Nutrition, San Antonio Military Medical Center, 3551 Roger Brooke Drive, Fort Sam Houston, TX 78234.
Mil Med. 2017 Jan;182(1):e1603-e1609. doi: 10.7205/MILMED-D-15-00451.
Dietary intake of military initial entry trainees is often inadequate because of the structured food environment, lack of snacking, and limited time for meals. Inadequate intake during training increases risk for injury, poor performance, and attrition from training. A performance nutrition initiative was implemented at Joint Base San Antonio Lackland to mitigate this inadequacy in Air Force trainees and better reflect recommendations for active populations and mitigate nutritional inadequacy.
Trainees (N = 867) in two squadrons either received a nutrition bar before bed (snack squadron n = 423) or did not (standard squadron n = 444). This study retrospectively compared trainees' attrition and fitness measures as recorded in the Basic Military Training (BMT) Surveillance database.
Both groups had similar rates of attrition and graduation at the end of 8 weeks (p = 0.23). At the start of training, only one out of four trainees in either Squadron passed the Physical Fitness Assessment (PFA). Although both squadrons' fitness measures improved as a result of the effects of training, the snack squadron had a significantly greater percent improvement in all PFA categories (p < 0.001), as represented by improved muscular fitness measures (p < 0.001), decreased median run time (p = 0.001), and greater improvement in scaled run scores (p = 0.013) as compared to the standard squadron. Those who received the snack were 1.62 (confidence interval: 1.2-2.2) times more likely to pass the PFA at 4 weeks than those who did not receive the snack.
This study shows that military trainees' fitness improves with a modest nutritional supplement and suggests that optimizing overall nutrition benefits trainees. Attrition from BMT costs the U.S. Air Force up to $22,000 per trainee lost. In contrast, a trainee could receive one nutrition bar per day during BMT for $34. As the nutrition bar initiative improves fitness as well as costs less than recruiting and medically treating trainees whom ultimately attrite from training, the snack intervention was beneficial. Future studies of strategic nutrition interventions in military training populations can help trainees to better meet their macronutrient and micronutrient needs and further optimize training performance.
由于结构化的饮食环境、缺乏零食以及用餐时间有限，军事新兵训练营学员的饮食摄入往往不足。训练期间摄入不足会增加受伤风险、导致表现不佳以及训练淘汰率上升。圣安东尼奥-拉克兰联合基地实施了一项性能营养计划，以缓解空军学员的这种不足，并更好地反映对活跃人群的建议，减轻营养不足问题。
两个中队的学员（N = 867），其中一个中队（零食中队，n = 423）在睡前会收到一根营养棒，另一个中队（标准中队，n = 444）则没有。本研究回顾性比较了基础军事训练（BMT）监测数据库中记录的学员淘汰率和体能指标。
8周结束时，两组的淘汰率和毕业率相似（p = 0.23）。训练开始时，两个中队中每四名学员中只有一人通过体能评估（PFA）。尽管由于训练的影响，两个中队的体能指标都有所改善，但零食中队在所有PFA类别中的改善百分比显著更高（p < 0.001），表现为肌肉体能指标改善（p < 0.001）、中位跑步时间缩短（p = 0.001）以及与标准中队相比，缩放跑步分数有更大改善（p = 0.013）。在4周时，收到零食的学员通过PFA的可能性是未收到零食学员的1.62倍（置信区间：1.2 - 2.2）。
本研究表明，军事学员的体能通过适度的营养补充得到改善，并表明优化整体营养对学员有益。基础军事训练的淘汰给美国空军造成的成本高达每名被淘汰学员22,000美元。相比之下，一名学员在基础军事训练期间每天收到一根营养棒的费用为34美元。由于营养棒计划既能提高体能，成本又低于招募和治疗最终因训练而被淘汰的学员，所以零食干预是有益的。未来对军事训练人群进行战略营养干预的研究可以帮助学员更好地满足其宏量营养素和微量营养素需求，并进一步优化训练表现。
