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Dietary Survey and Nutritional Epidemiology
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Present address: Defence Adaptive Sports & Adventurous Training Centre, Lilleshall Hall National Sports Centre, Shropshire TF10 9AT, UK.
Abbreviations: ASPT, Army School of Physical Training; JNCO, Junior Non-Commissioned Officers; P Coy, Pegasus Company Pre-Parachute Selection; PS, Permanent Staff; PTI, Physical Training Instructor; RMAS, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst; SuTs, soldiers under training
British Army soldiers under training (SuTs) typically undergo arduous military training for extended periods of time during which they can, at various times, experience significant fatigue, sleep deprivation and difficulty in meeting daily energy requirements, while facing continual assessment within their training environments. Average daily energy expenditures can be very high, reaching in excess of 20 MJ/d during some Phase 1(1)and Phase 3 training programmes(2), and training is sustained over 3 months, such as recruit Phase 1 training, to 11 months, such as the Commissioning Course for Officer Cadets at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS).
During Phase 1 training, recruits undergo generic military tactical and physical training on a daily basis. Phase 2 training is an extension of Phase 1; it is trade specific and typically less physically demanding. The level and volume of physical training vary between trades and are considerably higher, for example, during Phase 2 infantry training than in combat and service support trades. Phase 3 training provides career progression courses for trained soldiers from the Field Army, both within their own trade, which may be required for promotion, and in new trades, and these soldiers may have operational experience.
In these types of training environments, within young populations that are exposed to the same marketing hype surrounding dietary and training supplements as civilian sportsmen and women, the use of supplements by some military personnel is to be expected. There is widespread use of supplements at all levels of civilian sport(3)and a prevalence of 60-90 % supplement use is reported among high-performance UK athletes, including juniors (under 18 years of age)(3-5). Supplements are readily available to the British military, both in and out of operational theatres, through a rapidly expanding market, and are regularly advertised in military publications.