Diet Macronutrient Composition, Physical Activity, and Body Composition in Soldiers During 6 Months Deployment

Nykänen, Tarja; Pihlainen, Kai; Santtila, Matti; Vasankari, Tommi; Fogelholm, Mikael; Kyröläinen, Heikki

doi:10.1093/milmed/usy232

Cited by 17 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 22 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Furthermore, the present body composition and blood biomarker results did not reflect disturbances in hormonal balance either in the HiR or LoR group. These findings are supported by previously published results of rather low physical activity and work load [26], as well as well-maintained energy balance [27] during the same crisis management operation. Thus, there were no environmental or physiological barriers for the training adaptations during the operation.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…During the study, the soldiers performed their operative duties including typical military tasks, such as patrolling and observing outside the military base, as well as maintenance and headquarter duties inside the base. Recently, a more detailed description of the physical activity and work load [26] of the participants as well as their diet [27] has been published. Sixty-six voluntary male soldiers who were deployed for a crisis management operation in the Middle East took part in the baseline measurements.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Differences in Training Adaptations of Endurance Performance during Combined Strength and Endurance Training in a 6-Month Crisis Management Operation

Pihlainen

Häkkinen

Santtila

et al. 2020

IJERPH

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Decreases in aerobic fitness during military operations have been observed in several studies. Thus, differences in training adaptations during a 6-month crisis-management operation were compared by using the change in endurance performance as the outcome measure. Sixty-six male soldiers volunteered for the study, consisting of pre–post assessments of blood biomarkers, body composition, physical performance, and the military simulation test (MST) performance. Physical training volume was self-reported. After the follow-up, the data were divided based on individual changes in endurance performance. Endurance performance was improved in the high-responder group (HiR, n = 25) and maintained or decreased in the low-responder group (LoR n = 24). During the operation, the LoR group decreased while the HiR group increased their endurance training frequency from the pre-deployment level (Δ 28 ± 57% vs. −40 ± 62%, p = 0.004). Fat mass decreased (−7.6 ± 11.7% vs. 14.2 ± 20.4%, p < 0.001), and 1-min push-up (27.7 ± 21.9% vs. 11.7 ± 26.1%, p = 0.004) and MST performance improved (−13.6 ± 6.8% vs. −7.5 ± 6.5%, p = 0.006) more in the HiR group. No differences were observed in the changes of other physical performance test results or analyzed biomarkers. In conclusion, soldiers who were initially leaner and fitter in terms of lower body strength and power were more likely to decrease their aerobic fitness during the operation.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differences in Training Adaptations of Endurance Performance during Combined Strength and Endurance Training in a 6-Month Crisis Management Operation

Pihlainen

Häkkinen

Santtila

et al. 2020

IJERPH

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Importantly, within BMI/WHR high groups, about 80% of either BMI-or WHR-high Chinese soldiers were BFP low ( Table 6), suggesting that BMI and WHR did not reflect the real fat content for most BMI high and WHR high military personnel. For military personnel, high protein diet and intensive military training have positive effects on the improvement of fat-free mass and skeletal muscle [62,63]. A Finland study also showed increased lean tissue was observed in soldiers through military service [14].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio misclassification of overweight and obesity in Chinese military personnel

Zhu

Huang

et al. 2020

J Physiol Anthropol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: The rising prevalence of obesity in military personnel has raised great concerns. Previous studies suggest that body mass index (BMI)-and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR)-based obesity classifications in US military personnel and firefighters have high false negative and subsequently cause obesity misclassification. Objective: To determine whether BMI and WHR could reflect the fat mass of Chinese military personnel. Methods: Three hundred fifty-three male Chinese military personnel and 380 age-matched male adults were recruited. Obesity classification was defined by BMI, WHR, and body fat percentage (BFP). Results: Chinese military personnel had extremely low obesity rate determined by either BFP (0.3%) or BMI (0.6%). By combining overweight and obese individuals, BMI-and WHR-determined prevalence of overweight/obesity was 22.4% and 17.0% compared to BFP-based standard (4.0%) (P < 0.05). In reference to BFP, BMI and WHR have high false-positive rate compared to the control group. Further analysis showed that Chinese military personnel consisted of high percentage of BFP low BMI high and/or BFP low WHR high subpopulations. Eighty-one percent of BMI high and 78.3% of WHR high of them were BFP low. Conclusions: Chinese military personnel has extremely low obesity rate. BMI and WHR have high false-positive rates in reference to BFP, which cannot accurately reflect the mass of adipose tissue and leads to obesity misclassification.

show abstract

“…The studies included test persons from the Navy (Choi et al 2010;Tharion et al 2004) and the Air Force (Scott et al 2007). In the paper of Schulze et al (2015), test persons from both the army and the air force had been examined, and in three studies (Aandstad et al 2016;Nykanen et al 2019;Wyss et al 2012), an allocation to the individual Services was not possible due to lacking data. In addition to this, the studies were conducted all in different countries: Germany (Schulze et al 2015), England (Scott et al 2007), Finland (Nykanen et al 2019), Norway (Aandstad et al 2016), Switzerland (Wyss et al 2012), South Korea (Choi et al 2010) and the USA (Tharion et al 2004).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soldiers’ physical activity of daily life: a systematic literature review

Schilz

Sammito

2021

J Public Health (Berl.)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose High physical fitness and good health are not only essential for the civilian population but also for persons working in physically and psychologically demanding professions, such as armed forces personnel. To date there is no scientific summary of studies dealing with the physical activity of daily life in armed forces personnel, but this is necessary for a targeted intervention. Methods A systematic review was performed in the PubMed database (target date: 24 May 2020), using the search terms “military personnel” and “exercise” or “(physical) activity of daily life” including the assigned MESH words. Results Seven original papers have focused on the daily physical activity of military personal, and they were all conducted in different countries. The activity of daily life was on average 11,540 steps per day. Conclusions It could be shown that soldiers performed more physical activity than the civilian population and that the recommended 10,000 steps per day were slightly exceeded on average. However, the number of steps performed was very low in fields of activity with limited physical activity options, such as on board a ship. Altogether, it thus seems that additional health-promoting physical activity programs are not required for most of the soldiers, but that, in contrast, corresponding offers for physical activity alternatives, e.g., in the form of fitness equipment, are urgently required in specific task areas (e.g., on board ships).

show abstract

Diet Macronutrient Composition, Physical Activity, and Body Composition in Soldiers During 6 Months Deployment

Cited by 17 publications

References 22 publications

Differences in Training Adaptations of Endurance Performance during Combined Strength and Endurance Training in a 6-Month Crisis Management Operation

Differences in Training Adaptations of Endurance Performance during Combined Strength and Endurance Training in a 6-Month Crisis Management Operation

Body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio misclassification of overweight and obesity in Chinese military personnel

Soldiers’ physical activity of daily life: a systematic literature review

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About