U.S. Department of Defense's Perspective on Funding for Research on Whole Grains and Health

Abstract

The mission of military nutrition research is to identify and apply nutritional strategies to sustain and enhance physical and mental performance and maintain the health of military personal conducting extended operations in all environmental extremes. DOD’s nutrition research is conducted at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine’s (USARIEM) Military Nutrition Division (MND) located in Natick, MA. DOD’s combat ration R&D is conducted by the U.S. Army Natick Soldier RD&E Center in Natick, MA. DOD’s nutrition research and combat ration development programs are highly coordinated and mutually supportive. Combat rations for individual soldiers are designed to be low-weight, low-volume, of high nutrition density, ready-toeat, shelf-stable, and highly acceptable to our war fighters. Because of these design features, combat rations are limited in whole grains but usually contain a bread item. In 1985, the Army leadership requested USARIEM to conduct a series of studies to evaluate the effectiveness of dining facility initiatives to improve soldiers’ eating habits. The focus of the initiatives was to reduce consumption of total fats to not more than 35% of calories. The strategies used included serving low fat milk, educating cooks and diners, and modifying menus, recipes, and food preparation methods. As shown in Table I, these dining facility initiatives were very effective in reducing total fat intakes (% fat calories) in the military dining facilities (DFACs) studied from an average of 45% pre-initiatives to 32% post-initiatives. (1) As shown in Table II, total cholesterol intakes were also greatly reduced and total carbohydrate intakes correspondingly increased in both male and female West Point cadets. (3,4) During the past four years there has been a renewed interest in improving DFACs and the quality of food service. In August 2010, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) awarded a $10.3 M contract to AMARACK for a food transformation initiative (FTI) at six USAF bases. The FTI is a pilot program designed to improve the quality, variety, and availability of food operations and to increase utilization of DFACs by airman and their families. In December 2010, all the Services approved new DOD menu standards with the primary goal of promoting and incorporating healthier foods in the DFACs. All Army DFACs will follow the DOD Menu Standards to include offering sliced bread containing whole grains, whole grain waffles and French toast, whole grain cereals, and whole grain pasta. The Army incorporated the DOD menu standards into a soldier fueling initiative (SFI) announced by LT. General Mark Hertling, Deputy Commanding General for Initial Military Training (IMT) in September 2010. The SFI will modify Army garrison menu standards to promote healthier eating and it will prescribe standardized menus, recipes, preparation methods, and portion sizes at all IMT DFACs. The SFI will also market nutrition awareness and healthier food and beverage choices. A total of twelve Army installations with IMT DFACs will implement the program that is designed to increase IMT soldier fitness and