Health Assessment of U.S. Army Rangers

Abstract

, AMSC USA; Purpose: Assess the health behaviors of U.S. Army Rangers, including their diet and physical activity patterns, and their use of alcohol, tobacco, and nutritional supplements. Methods: Army Rangers (N= 38) completed selected self-report and food frequency questionnaires, and anthropometric measures (height, weight, circumferences) were taken. Results: Dietary patterns were collected from questionnaires that asked respondents to report the frequency of usual consumption from a list of foods over a period of 1 year. The data collected indicated a diet high in fat (38.0% of energy) and low in carbohydrates (41.9%). Protein intake (17.9% of energy) was consistent with recommendations for endurance and strength training athletes. Hours engaged in physical activity averaged 12 per week. Overall, 76% of the volunteers reported using alcohol on a regular basis, and 52.6% used some form of tobacco: 50%reported using either snuff or chewing tobacco. The use of supplements was high with 13%taking creatine and ephedrine products on a regular basis. Conclusion: Although physical activity patterns indicated a high level of activity, dietary and other health behaviors, such as smoking, alcohol use, and patterns of supplement use, suggest that health education programs may be important in this select Army population.

Smokeless Tobacco Use in the United States Military: A Systematic Review

“…The widest variation in reported ST use, in relation to sample size, was for current, daily/regular, experimental, and former use and also across the all three concurrent use categories. In most cases, ST use prevalence was highest among small samples (e.g., 50% current ST users among 38 participants; Sridhar et al, 2003) and lowest among large samples (e.g., 4.1% current ST users among 32,144 participants; Ward et al, 2003).…”

“…The majority of the studies (n = 24, 61.54%) were published between 2000 and 2010, suggesting that the body of literature is still relatively nascent. The sample size ranged from 38 (Sridhar et al, 2003) to 33,215 .…”

“…One study reported that 64.3% of ST users used less than two cans/tins/pouches per week (Williams, Hermesch, Gackstetter, Lando, & Fiedler, 1996). One study reported that the average number of cans used per day was 0.8 (Sridhar et al, 2003).…”

Smokeless Tobacco Use in the United States Military: A Systematic Review

“…The majority of the studies (n = 24, 61.54%) were published between 2000 and 2010, suggesting that the body of literature is still relatively nascent. The sample size ranged from 38 (Sridhar et al, 2003) to 33,215 (Klesges et al, 2006).…”

Prevalence of and Factors Associated with Dietary Supplement Use in a Stratified, Random Sample of US Military Personnel: The US Military Dietary Supplement Use Study

“…Because early studies ( 11–14 ) in selected military populations suggested a high use of DSs in the military, an Institute of Medicine report ( 15 ) recommended representative, comprehensive, and ongoing surveys of all military personnel to monitor the prevalence of DS use and to examine subgroups that might have higher DS use. Over a period of 9 y, from 2006 to 2014, our research team completed separate surveys of Army ( 16 ), Air Force ( 6 ), Navy/Marine Corps ( 4 ), and Coast Guard ( 17 ) personnel.…”