Stressful Life Changes and Their Relationship to Nutrition-Related Health Outcomes Among US Army Soldiers

Weight management behaviours mediate the relationship between weight cycling, BMI and diet quality among US Army Soldiers

“…Potential interventions might include holistic initiatives that promote sustainable weight loss and healthy weight maintenance. For example, exposure to an Army eating environment, which is often characterized by limited and high cost nutrient dense items, abundance of fast foods or hyper palatable foods, time constraints, and stress 16,27,33,47 early in a Soldier's career may foster the development of undesirable eating behaviors, such as fast eating and eating irrespective of hunger and fullness cues 16,33 . This Accepted manuscript exposure may inadvertently set Soldiers on a trajectory by which they must adopt weight management behaviors to compensate for these habits.…”

“…No additional inclusion/exclusion criteria were applied. 27 , of which 441 Soldiers agreed. A post-hoc power analysis using G*Power 30 determined the sample size was sufficient for regression models with up to ten predictors to detect an R 2 as small as 0.02 or an odds ratio of 1.2 with 80% probability at a significance level of 0.05.…”

“…In total, 607 Soldiers at these installations were briefed for potential participation, 577 of them provided informed consent and 575 completed the MEBS. From this same group of volunteers, a subsample of 446 Soldiers at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, AK, and Fort Campbell, KY, were asked to complete a FFQ (27) , of which 441 Soldiers agreed. A post hoc power analysis using G × Power (29) determined the sample size was sufficient for regression models with up to 10 predictors to detect an R 2 as small as 0•02 or an odds ratio of 1•2 with 80 % probability at a significance level of 0•05.…”

“…Common barriers include lack of access to nutritious options, excess exposure to fast food, limited time to eat meals or prepare healthy foods, time constraints that promote fast eating, and increased exposure to stress/trauma compared to the civilian population 26,27 . Thus, overweight and obesity are increasingly common in U.S. military personnel, and identification of contributing factors is needed to inform development of prevention strategies.…”

“…Recent findings have demonstrated that Soldiers of all ranks report experiencing several barriers within the Army eating environment that restrict behaviour change and the ability to make healthy choices (26) . Common barriers include lack of access to nutritious options, excess exposure to fast food, limited time to eat meals or prepare healthy foods, time constraints that promote fast eating, and increased exposure to stress/trauma compared with the civilian population (26,27) . Thus, overweight and obesity are increasingly common in US military personnel, and identification of contributing factors is needed to inform development of prevention strategies.…”