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Military Studies and Nutritional Immunology

Undernutrition and Susceptibility to Illness

  • Chapter
Diet and Human Immune Function

Part of the book series: Nutrition and Health ((NH))

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Abstract

This chapter reviews research findings from military studies on the connection between nutritional status and immune function and provides some conclusions on what has been learned to date.

“From time immemorial famine and pestilence have been considered an inseparable pair, the twin fruits of war ... Prominent among the diseases thus associated with famine have been scarlet fever, diphtheria, dysentery, typhoid, typhus, cholera, and tuberculosis. Not only have these at times become epidemic in periods of famine, but there is much evidence that their course becomes more severe. It has been rather generally assumed that both the increased incidence and the virulence in such cases are due, at least in part, to the prevailing state of undernutrition.”

Human Biology of Starvation, p. 1002 (2).

The views, opinions, and findings contained in this report are those of the author and should not be construed as an official Department of the Army position, policy, or decision. Portions of this chapter are derived from an earlier presentation on military requirements for nutritional immu¬nology research and from the conclusions of that symposium that were summarized in the 708- page report on “Military Strategies for Sustainment of Nutrition and Immune Function in the Field,” Committee on Military Nutrition Research, 1999 (1).

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Authors
  1. Karl E. Friedl
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Nutrition Division, Institute of Food Research, Norwich Research Park, Norfolk, UK

    David A. Hughes PhD, RNutr

  2. Epsom and St. Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, Surrey, UK

    L. Gail Darlington MD, FRCP

  3. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, Parsippany, NJ, USA

    Adrianne Bendich PhD, FACN

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Friedl, K.E. (2004). Military Studies and Nutritional Immunology. In: Hughes, D.A., Darlington, L.G., Bendich, A. (eds) Diet and Human Immune Function. Nutrition and Health. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-652-2_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-652-2_20

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-61737-422-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-652-2

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