The history of military nutrition in the United States can be roughly divided into seven historical eras, [1] from the founding of the country to the present day, based on advances in food research technology and methodologies for the improvement of the overall health and nutritional status of U.S. military service members. Through the research and guidance of medical and military professionals, rations and packaging have been consistently and dramatically improved.
The first formal institution for U.S. military nutrition research was created in 1917, when the Surgeon-General's office established a Food Division for "safeguarding the nutritional interests of the Army." [2] Currently, the U.S. military nutrition research is presided over by the DoD Combat Feeding and Research Program (CFREP), providing a research, technology and engineering base for all combat feeding systems. The Army is the executive agent for the Combat Research and Engineering Board (CFREB; formerly known as the Food and Nutrition Research and Engineering Board). [3] Chaired by the office of the director, defense research and engineering, the CFREB includes representatives from Army Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and the Defense Logistics Agency.
The Military Nutrition Division at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM) has been at the forefront of Military Nutrition Research since 1986, and addresses physical, physiological and nutritional requirements of modern military personnel.
In 1775, the Continental Congress stipulated that all enlisted persons of the Continental Army should receive peas, beans, or vegetables and one pint of milk per man in addition to their provision of meat and bread. [4] For the time, this was a significant recognition of the need to include fresh food in the military diet. As food preservation and refrigeration techniques had not been perfected at the time (late 18th century), perishables were rarely delivered in edible condition to soldiers in the field. Without fresh fruits and vegetables, many soldiers suffered death or illness by such diseases as scurvy. As a result, the overall health and morale of American soldiers suffered. [5] [6]
Aware of the situation, General George Washington wrote a letter to Congress suggesting new personnel be hired to correct issues in the Commissary Department. [7] Congress then directed the Board of War to supply sauerkraut, vegetables, vinegar, beer and cider to troops. [8]
A few decades later, in response to a 12,000 franc award offered by Napoleon Bonaparte for the creation of a method to preserve food for armies, Nicholas Appert developed a method to preserve food in airtight bottles. Samples of Appert's preserved foods were sent to sea with Napoleon's men and the food remained fresh for several months. Ten years later, Pierre Durand, a British merchant, patented a similar method using tin-coated canisters, and by 1813, the British Army and Navy were supplied with food preserved in tins.
During the American Civil War, conditions prevented adequate supply and delivery of all ration components to troops. [9] Typhoid, diarrhea, and dysentery, easily spread by contamination of water and food supplies, were widespread, and fatalities caused by these diseases were common. [10]
In 1861, the Army of Virginia published Directions for Cooking by Troops in Camp and Hospital, [11] an Army camp cooking manual written by Florence Nightingale. The recipes emphasized meat and milk for protein and whole grains, fruits, and vegetables for carbohydrates. The first US Family Food Guide (1916) was published 35 years later, with essentially similar recommendations.
In 1861, John Ordronaux's Hints on the Preservation of Health in the Armies [12] was published containing the first known dietary guidelines for soldiers, identifying priorities of an effective military diet.
After the Civil War, the 1892 ration was developed, providing for fresh meat, fish and vegetables. Although advances had been made in food processing, preservation, storage and refrigeration techniques, food often spoiled over long distances or in warm climates, as these techniques had not been perfected. During the Spanish–American War, many soldiers suffered serious illness as the result of rotten or fermented food. [13] Also in 1892, Captain Charles Woodruff conducted the first military nutrition survey, and earned the title "foremost student of the diet of the American soldier". [14] Through his research, he observed gradual improvement in the quality of Army rations and noted the need for further research and development to ensure the continuation of this trend.
While rations continued to improve, broad distribution of perishable foods did not occur until World War I, when technological advances made it possible to supply camps with fresh meats, eggs, dairy products and vegetables. While overseas, American soldiers consumed the generally adequate Pershing garrison rations, which lacked dairy and vegetable products. Problems such as these were overcome later with the development of the "New Army Ration". [13]
Facing food shortages in both military and civilian populations during World War I, it was important to address reports of food wastage at military training camps. The Division of Food and Nutrition of the Medical Department, U.S. Army (established in 1918 by the War Department) instructed that nutritional surveys should be conducted to assess food requirements and economy. Findings showed that garrison rations were providing an excess of food, were nutritionally unbalanced and had a high fat content. Based on these findings, a new "training ration" was developed to avoid waste. [2]
The first issue of the Journal of Nutrition was published in 1928 by the American Institute of Nutrition (AIN). AIN was the first independent scientific society for researchers in the field of nutrition. It was cofounded by an Army nutrition officer, John R. Murlin. [15]
While military nutrition research came to a stop between World War I and World War II, the League of Nations established the Commission on Nutrition to make detailed recommendations based on sound scientific principles of nutrition. The Commission's Mixed Committee on the Problem of Nutrition published its final report, emphasizing the importance of foods such as green leafy vegetables, fruit and milk. [16]
In response to an observation of poor nutritional status among enlisting men, the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council created a force that defines the minimum need and safety margin for nutrient intake. Using available data, the task force specified a tentative set of allowances, intended to address the nutritional needs of civilians and military personnel. These allowances eventually became the Food and Nutrition Board's Recommended Dietary Allowances. [17]
The Medical Nutrition Laboratory (formerly the Food and Nutrition Laboratory, founded in 1942) along with the Medical Nutrition Laboratory of the Quartermaster Food and Container Institute developed and subsequently improved the individual D-, K-, C-, and emergency rations. By June 1945, the Army had 157 nutrition officers. Between 1941 and 1946, more than 30 field ration surveys were conducted to assess health, performance and nutritional status of troops in different environments. [18] In 1949, Congress authorized the construction of a new Quartermaster research facility in Natick, Massachusetts. After several name changes, the facility would eventually be known as the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research Development and Engineering Center.
In 1958, the year the Meal, Combat, Individual ration was introduced, the Army's Medical Nutrition Laboratory in Chicago, Illinois, and the Research and Development Department of Fitzsimons General Hospital in Aurora, Colorado, were combined to form the U.S. Army Medical Research and Nutrition Laboratory (USAMRNL). This institution quickly became known as the nation's leading laboratory for human nutrition research and conducted broad and extensive studies. [19] In 1973, the USAMRNL moved to San Francisco and became the Letterman Army Institute of Research (LAIR). [20] Meanwhile, in 1955, the Interdepartmental Committee on Nutrition for National Defense (ICNND) was established to address nutritional problems. [21] After reorganization in 1967, the ICNND published a Ten State Nutrition Survey, [22] exploring issues such as serious hunger, malnutrition and related health concerns. The findings of this report spurred the creation of the Food Stamp program (1974), nutrition programs for the elderly, the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) supplemental nutrition program (1972), the United States Department of Agriculture school breakfast program (permanently authorized in 1975), military dietary reform, and the establishment of NIH-funded Nutrition Research Centers.
The Letterman Army Institute of Research (LAIR) was at the forefront of Military Nutrition Research and conducted studies in various areas of medicine, optics, toxicology and nutrition throughout the latter half of the 1970s. Nutrition research targeted the development of new methodologies for the measurement of nutrient intake, identification of contaminants in food, assessment of the nutritional adequacy of the soldier's diet, and assessment of feeding system changes at selected military dining facilities. Scientists also conducted studies exploring the specific roles and mechanisms of nutrients such as vitamin A, [23] vitamin C, [24] carbohydrates, [25] thiamin, [26] iron [27] and several others. Although driven primarily by military concerns, scientists at LAIR and its predecessor labs also contributed essential knowledge to the general understanding of nutrition as it applies to the human body. Among other things, they established requirement recommendations for water, vitamins, and minerals and provided insight on the effects of calorie deprivation.
In the late 1970s, a series of Army management decisions and congressional directives threatened to abolish the nutrition research program at LAIR. Dr. Allan L. Forbes argued strongly for the continuation of nutrition research at LAIR, noting "it would be tragic in the extreme to see dissolution of the finest clinical nutrition research facility we have." The Army Nutrition Research Program was suspended in 1980 after Army and Congressional priority decisions. All assets from the Army's military nutrition program were transferred to the USDA's Western Human Nutrition Research Center in Davis, California.
Although the Army Research Program had been suspended, the Department of Defense continued to conduct nutrition research. During the early 1980s, some military nutrition studies continued at the Naval Health Research Center, the Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory, the Food Engineering Laboratory at the Natick Research and Development Laboratories, the Army Institute of Surgical Research, the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. After the National Research Council's Advisory Board on Military Personnel Supplies (ABMPS) observed that insufficient attention was paid to nutrition by armed services food programs, funding was granted to establish a Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) Committee on Military Nutrition Research (CMNR). Since its creation in 1982, the CMNR has published more than 50 reports containing analysis, guidance and recommendations to the Department of Defense on nutrition-related priorities.
During the 1980s, new feeding systems were developed, including the Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) and T-rations. [28] MREs are complete meals in flexible pouches that replaced the less adequate C-ration. The heat-and-serve tray-pack T-ration was developed to provide the option of a hot meal when cooks were unavailable. In 1983, field trials began to test the adequacy of the MRE ration for long-term subsistence, leading to concerns about weight loss. [29] Following these trials, a new military nutrition research division known as the Nutrition Task Force was established at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine. One of the Nutrition Task Force's first objectives was to complete an intensive field trial of rations to test ration acceptance and intake over extended periods of time. The second half of the 1980s saw continued investment in military nutrition research and in 1986, the Nutrition Task Force became the Military Nutrition Division.
In 1986, the U.S. Army retook the lead in basic and applied military nutrition science, presided over by the Department of Defense Combat Feeding and Research Program (CFREP), and providing a research, technology and engineering base for combat feeding systems. Since then, the Military Nutrition Division at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM) has been at the forefront of physical, physiological, and nutritional requirements research to address the needs of modern military personnel.
The Military Nutrition Division, in collaboration with the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, has made several scientific advances in understanding the energy and nutritional requirements of healthy individuals performing in extreme environments, addressed comprehensive menu modification and enabled the development of improved food composition databases, and developed weight control intervention programs for soldiers. [30] This alliance has also allowed for investigation of performance-enhancing ration components (PERCs), improving human performance by at least 15%, and leading to developments such as the Soldier Fuel energy bar and the ERGO (Energy Rich Glucose Optimized) energy drink. [31]
During the 1990s, several nutrition studies were conducted, including studies on nutritional influences on immune function, nutritional interventions and susceptibility to disease during high-stress training, and the role of energy balance in disease resistance. The latter study directly led to changes in food allowances for U.S. Army Ranger training and other high-intensity programs. In this period, the A-ration, B-ration, and T-ration were replaced by the Unitized Group Ration.
Through modern research, ration and hydration requirements have been defined for soldiers and personnel working in high altitudes and in extreme temperatures. Working alongside scientists at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, scientists of the Military Nutrition Division at USARIEM continue to improve ration technologies, address nutrition concerns, establish new programs for soldier weight management and otherwise optimize soldier performance through military nutrition research.[ citation needed ]
The Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) is a self-contained individual United States military ration used by the United States Armed Forces and Department of Defense. It is intended for use by American service members in combat or field conditions where other food is not available. MREs have also been distributed to civilians as humanitarian daily rations during natural disasters and wars.
A flameless ration heater (FRH), colloquially an MRE heater, is a form of self-heating food packaging included in U.S. military Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) rations since 1993.
The C-ration was a United States military ration consisting of prepared, canned wet foods. They were intended to be served when fresh or packaged unprepared food was unavailable, and survival rations were insufficient. It was replaced by the similar Meal, Combat, Individual (MCI) in 1958; its modern successor is the Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE).
The Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, formerly the United States Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center, is a military research complex and installation in Natick, Massachusetts, charged by the U.S. Department of Defense with the research and development of food, clothing, shelters, airdrop systems, and other servicemember support items for the U.S. military. It is a component unit of the United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command and is a tenant unit of the United States Army Natick Soldier Systems Center (SSC). The installation includes facilities from all the military services, not just the Army, and is so configured to allow cross-service cooperation and collaboration both within the facility and with the many academic, industrial and governmental institutions in the Greater Boston Area.
United States military ration refers to the military rations provided to sustain United States Armed Forces service members, including field rations and garrison rations, and the military nutrition research conducted in relation to military food. U.S. military rations are often made for quick distribution, preparation, and eating in the field and tend to have long storage times in adverse conditions due to being thickly packaged or shelf-stable.
The K-ration was a United States military ration consisting of three separately boxed meal units: breakfast, dinner, and supper. It was originally intended as an individually packaged daily ration for issue to airborne troops, tank crews, motorcycle couriers, and other mobile forces for short durations.
Humanitarian daily rations are food rations manufactured in the United States intended to be supplied to civilians and other non-military personnel in humanitarian crises. Each is intended to serve as a single person's full daily food supply, and contains somewhat over 2,200 calories (9,200 J). They have shelf-lives of about 3 years, and their contents are designed to be acceptable to a variety of religious and ethnic groups. The meals cost approximately one-fifth of the cost of a Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE), or US$4.70 in 2012. The rations were first used in Bosnia in 1993 as part of Operation Provide Promise.
A field ration is a type of prepackaged military ration designed to be easily and quickly prepared and consumed in the field, in combat, at the front line, or where eating facilities are otherwise unavailable. Field rations are primarily used by military forces, though they are also sometimes distributed to civilians as part of humanitarian aid and emergency management. They differ from garrison rations and field kitchen provisions, which are intended for where proper meals can be supplied and prepared with relative ease and safety, such as in the rear where logistics are steady and fresh food can be supplied. They are similar to, but distinct from, other purpose-designed long-lasting types of food or rations such as emergency rations, humanitarian daily rations, and camping food.
Military chocolate has been a part of standard United States military rations since the original D-ration bar of 1937. Today, military chocolate is issued to troops as part of basic field rations and sundry packs. Chocolate rations served two purposes: as a morale boost, and as a high-energy, pocket-sized emergency ration. Military chocolate rations are often made in special lots to military specifications for weight, size, and endurance. The majority of chocolate issued to US military personnel is produced by The Hershey Company.
A garrison ration is a type of military ration. Usually distinct from field rations, the term has varying meanings, but generally refers to either rations issued to personnel at a camp, installation, or other garrison; allowance allotted to personnel to purchase goods or rations sold in a garrison; the rations purchased with the aforementioned allowance; or a type of issued ration.
The A-ration is a United States military ration consisting of fresh, refrigerated, or frozen foods. A-rations may be served in dining facilities, prepared in the field using field kitchens, or prepared at a fixed facility and transported to field locations in containers. Its modern successor is the Unitized Group Ration – A (UGR-A), which combines multiple types of rations, including the A-ration, under one unified system.
The U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM) is the U.S Army’s main institution and facility for military environmental medicine and exercise physiology research. It is located at Natick, Massachusetts, within the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center (SSC) installation, but is a subordinate lab of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC), headquartered at Fort Detrick, Maryland, USA.
The First Strike Ration (FSR) is a compact assault United States military ration. It is designed to be consumed on the move during the first 72 hours of conflict. It was created by the United States Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Massachusetts. The U.S. Army said the FSR substantially reduces weight and load and is intended to enhance a consumer's physical performance, mental acuity, and mobility.
Military rations, operational rations, or military provisions are goods issued to sustain the needs of military personnel. As their name suggests, military rations have historically been, and often still are, subject to rationing, with each individual receiving specific amounts from available supplies. Military-issued goods and the rationing of such goods have existed since the beginnings of organized warfare.
Ronald C. Wornick was an American food scientist, entrepreneur and art collector. He was best known for founding The Wornick Company, which was selected by the U.S. Department of Defense in 1979 to mass-produce Meals, Ready to Eat or MREs, a next-generation version of individual combat meals or C-Rations that brought greater menu variety and improved food storage and preparation options to servicemen in the field.
The Food Packet, Long Range Patrol was a freeze-dried dehydrated United States military ration used by the Department of Defense. Developed in 1964 and intended for wide adoption during the Vietnam War, its use was eventually limited to American special operations forces during long-range reconnaissance patrols, where bulky canned Meal, Combat, Individual (MCI) rations proved too heavy for extended missions on foot. The LRP had a cold-weather warfare equivalent, the Ration, Cold Weather (RCW).
Military nutrition is the field and study of food, diet, and nutrition in the military. It generally covers and refers to military rations and nutrition in military organizations and environments.
Mary Victoria Richardson Klicka was a Canadian-American registered dietitian and food technologist for the United States Army. She designed MREs and provisions for astronauts in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. In 1970, she received the Distinguished Civilian Service Award from the Department of Defense.
Miriam Mason Higgins Thomas was an American chemist, based in the United States Army Research and Development Command at Natick, Massachusetts.
The Unitized Group Ration (UGR) is a United States military ration used by the United States Armed Forces and Department of Defense (DoD). It is intended to sustain groups of American service members with access to a field kitchen, serving as a field ration and a garrison ration. It is the modern successor to several older alphabetized rations—namely the A-ration, B-ration, and T-ration—combining them under a single unified system. UGRs are designed to meet the Military Daily Recommended Allowance when averaged over a 5 to 10 day period, with each meal providing between 1,300 and 1,450 kcal.
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