Many comparisons are made between the diet and nutritional needs of service members and those of serious athletes. However, service members face unique constraints and challenges in their operational environments that render those needs very different.
For instance, athletes know the times and specific details of their events, for which they can prepare. Soldiers, sailors, airmen, guardians and Marines? Not so much.
Service members need to be ready at a moment's notice for anything that comes their way. They operate in extreme cold, extreme heat and at high altitudes, and they might be doing so with very little sleep for prolonged periods of time. All these factors can create unique stressors that call for varying nutritional requirements.
At the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center in Natick, Massachusetts, experts in the War Department Combat Feeding Division develop rations and packaging to support warfighters and stay ahead of their constantly shifting nutritional needs. From garrison-sized meals served at mess halls to single-serving rations eaten in the field, these experts research and engineer food for the entire department.
They also engineer new, energy-efficient ways to field food, from finding new kitchen equipment for submarines to creating portable gear for expeditionary units, or even packaging food into tubes for pilots flying at the edge of space. Other CFD experts are working on ways to protect food and water from contamination.
The CFD works closely with the Military Nutrition Division at the nearby Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine. Together, both divisions are focused on optimizing warfighter performance, improving their recovery and promoting overall health through nutrition.
Every year, each service reports its operational challenges related to field feeding to the DOW Combat Feeding Research and Engineering Program, which turns those challenges into research and engineering projects for the CFD to address. Those projects require expert knowledge in various fields, from dietitians and physiologists to biologists and engineers.
The process usually begins at the MND, which focuses more on the physiological side of the research. There, experts study various nutrients and food formulations to see what effects they have on the warfighter.
Analyzing Ingredients for Warfighter Benefit
Currently, MND and CFD researchers are studying nutrients such as tart cherry and essential amino acids, which may improve muscle recovery and endurance. But before scientists can make a product from those nutrients, they need to know how the body uses them first.
At the MND's metabolic kitchen, nutrition experts plan diets for soldier volunteers by enhancing prototype ration products with nutrients that are being studied.
"We can feed [them] in a very controlled setting to ensure that no other variables impact our findings," explained Army Maj. Alan Dawson, the division's military deputy chief.
They also study warfighters in training or out in the field to evaluate their environmental stressors. "We're seeing how nutrition affects stress, their ability to exercise, their tolerance to a lack of sleep or extreme temperatures," explained Army Sgt. Noah Carrier, a medical lab technician with a molecular biology degree.
Carrier is one of about 60 soldiers stationed within the detachment. He's only been there for a few months, but so far, he said it's been a unique experience.
"The human race's relationship with food is the oldest thing that we have, but they're still discovering something new about how we can optimize performance and keep people sustained in stressful conditions," he said. "I've already learned stuff that blows my mind that these people are researching."
The studies help the MND define warfighter-specific nutrition requirements and recommendations. The CFD then takes that information to develop rations for the warfighter to enjoy in the field.
From Studies to Sustenance
Natick's food scientists look for ways to make warfighter rations energy- and nutrient-dense to help avoid negative energy balance — when a person can't eat enough to maintain physical or cognitive performance, explained MND chief Dr. James McClung. It's an issue associated with poor performance and an increased risk of injury.
One ration created to fit this need was the Performance Readiness Bar, which is currently available to service members undergoing initial entry training. Researchers discovered that if they packed a ration bar with supplemental calcium and vitamin D, new recruits could eat one a day in the evening to optimize bone health and prevent injuries that had been reported among basic trainees.
"The body tends to rebuild during sleep … so it's really important to provide nutrients prior to this time," McClung said. "The Performance Readiness Bar … delivers protein, energy and other nutrients so they can be absorbed and utilized overnight."
Once a ration prototype is created, its various components — from proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals to moisture content and pH levels — are quickly analyzed at an in-house lab. That ensures their levels meet DOW-wide Army Regulation 40-25 requirements, which are different than nutritional needs for civilians and can often depend on environmental factors.
"In the heat, the demand for electrolytes may be greater. Cold oftentimes elicits shivering, and shivering requires energy and may cause one to require differing levels of macronutrients," explained McClung. He said altitude can also affect levels of nutrients such as carbohydrates and iron.
Analysts from the CFD also determine how nutrients can degrade over time in storage.
"We want to make sure … the warfighter gets the full package of what they need to perform optimally," explained Lauren O'Connor, the branch chief for the division's Food Engineering and Analysis Team.
It's All About the Taste
Nutrition is important. How food tastes, however, is an even bigger factor.
"It's not nutrition if they don't eat it. Rations need to taste good to encourage warfighters to consume them," explained Julie McNiff, branch chief of the CFD's Functional Food and Nutrition Intervention Branch.
With that in mind, the CFD houses a sensory lab staffed by trained civilian panelists who evaluate replenishment rations from industry partners every few months. They make sure shelf-life requirements are met and look at specifications such as flavor, odor, appearance and texture.
"They've got a very extensive lexicon of terms to describe the food, so while you or I might say sour, they have about 10 different words that mean sour," said Dr. Erin Gaffney-Stomberg, division chief of the CFD. "It's a very highly scientific process."
Once a round of testing is complete, reports are collected to determine if the items meet requirements. "If this is deemed acceptable, then it becomes our new product standard," said Jill Bates, a registered dietitian who runs the sensory evaluation lab.
Bates said they never know what items they might get from day to day, adding, "Sometimes it's eggs, or sometimes it's candy and hot sauce."
While about 10 to 12 trained panelists will do a round of testing, soldiers stationed at the Natick base will also get to do some evaluations, strictly to see if they like the product.
"After we've done all our technical testing ... we use the soldiers and the warfighters just for acceptance," Bates said. "Their opinion … is really the ultimate goal of why we're here."
"Every single product that is considered for insertion into an operational ration platform needs to be warfighter tested and approved," Gaffney-Stomberg said.
The CFD also partners closely with the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support to ensure rations meet DLA's standards before industry partners can begin to mass produce them.
The Importance of Shelf Stability
Aside from just packing rations with the right amounts of calories, protein and carbohydrates, those rations also have to withstand various environmental conditions.
For example, meals ready to eat, known as MREs, and other rations are stored in a variety of places throughout the world for a certain amount of time before they're rotated out. The CFD has to make sure any items they create can be shelf-stable for three years at 80 degrees Fahrenheit and for six months at 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Active ingredients in those rations have to be retained during that time.
"The typical consumer market doesn't have these requirements," Gaffney-Stomberg said.
"[We spend] quite a bit of time … looking at how you can actually stabilize those active ingredients so that they're still active by the time they might get out into the field, which could be potentially years after it's been processed," McNiff said.
As an example, McNiff said the tart cherry research proved difficult for shelf stability because some of the active ingredients are susceptible to degradation in high heat and storage.
"One of our food scientists worked for about two years to see if she could make it shelf-stable and get that ingredient retained," McNiff said. "The good news is, she has."
Popular probiotics have also been a challenge for shelf-life requirements, so researchers in the CFD's Integrative Physiology Lab are currently testing an inactivated form of them called postbiotics to see if they're more stable but still result in beneficial effects. To do so, biologists are using an intestinal organoid — "mini guts," as they call it — that responds like human intestines. So far, they've seen positive effects on how human-like cells respond to postbiotics.
"We are one of the few laboratories — if not the only laboratory in the [Department of War] — doing this type of work," explained research biologist Greg Weber, who leads the Integrative Physiology Lab.
Once products are developed, project officers will focus on one particular ration platform – whether it be the MRE, the close combat assault ration, group rations or supplemental bars — and constantly look to update products according to consumer trends, new products on the market or what warfighters like to consume.
Packaging: A Key Component
Gaffney-Stomberg said a common misconception is that military rations are full of preservatives and chemicals to maintain shelf stability. That's not true.
"A big part of the shelf stability is actually the packaging itself," she said, explaining that the packaging is engineered to allow very little water and oxygen to permeate its barriers, helping to preserve food longer and keep it safe from potential contaminants.
When it comes to the logistics of transporting food in combat, service members often carry all their sustenance with them. That weight adds up, as does leftover packaging waste after the meals have been eaten. CFD engineers aim to reduce those burdens by finding new materials to make packaging as small and light as possible.
"From a food chemistry standpoint, there's a lot of challenge to get all of that nutrition in the smallest footprint, be shelf-stable and taste good," Gaffney-Stomberg said.
It's a challenge both divisions have accepted to optimize warfighter performance and keep our troops healthy for any fight that comes their way.