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Determining Nutritional Requirements of Indian Soldiers: An Outcome of Translational Research

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Translational Research in Environmental and Occupational Stress

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Abstract

Soldiers are deployed in different climatic conditions such as hot deserts, hot humid jungles, snowbound high-altitude areas, underwater (submariners), etc. Adequate nutritional support is a prime requirement for maintaining highest level of physical fitness under different climatic conditions and operational situations. The energy expenditures of soldiers during training and different operations are much higher than civilian population. The average energy expenditure of different units of Indian Army under normal and specialized trainings is 2,900–4,500 kcal. Under extreme environmental conditions, the thirst and appetite responses also get affected which will have an impact on food and water intake. Decreased food intake due to high-altitude anorexia causes negative energy balance leading to loss of body mass in lowlanders visiting high altitudes. High-carbohydrate diets are beneficial under hypoxic environment of high altitudes during early days of acclimatization. Maintenance of adequate hydration and electrolyte level is very important for hot environments. The planning of ration for combat operations is a challenging task, as balance between nutrient requirement for optimum health and palatability needs to be ensured. Translational research has played a great role in formulating dietary recommendations and ration scales of armed forces and at the same time, various ready-to-eat products emerged as the innovative products of military nutrition research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nutrition Division, Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences, Lucknow Road, Timarpur, New Delhi, 110054, India

    Som Nath Singh

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  1. Som Nath Singh
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Correspondence to Som Nath Singh .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS), New Delhi, Delhi, India

    Shashi Bala Singh

  2. Department of Medicine and Director for Systems, The University of Chicago, Chicago, USA

    Nanduri R. Prabhakar

  3. Department of Anaesthesiology, School of Medicine, State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York, USA

    Srinivas N Pentyala

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Singh, S.N. (2014). Determining Nutritional Requirements of Indian Soldiers: An Outcome of Translational Research. In: Singh, S., Prabhakar, N., Pentyala, S. (eds) Translational Research in Environmental and Occupational Stress. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-1928-6_10

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