Posted on 12/31/2015 4:08:46 PM PST by BenLurkin
The U.S. Army Institute of Environmental Medicine is looking for volunteers (PDF) to eat military food rations for 21 consecutive days for a study of the impact of Meals, Ready-to-Eat, or MREs, on gut health. Researchers want to learn how MREs influence the millions of bacteria in troops' digestive systems.
"Interactions between the millions of bacteria living in our gut and what we eat is a very important factor in gut health, but we don't know how MRE foods interact with those bacteria to impact gut health," Holly McClung, a research dietitian working on the project, said on the Army's website. "Ultimately, discovering how eating MREs influences gut bacteria and gut health will help our efforts to continually improve the MRE."
Much like on the battlefield, one of the main obstacles in the study is finding people to commit to a steady diet of ready-to-eat meals. MREs are generally regarded as tasteless, if not bad, which is perhaps understandable considering the wide battery of requirements they must meet to guarantee shelf life and meet strict nutritional benchmarks.
MREs must be capable of withstanding parachute drops from 1,250 feet, and the packaging is required to maintain a minimum shelf life of 3.5 years at 80 degrees Fahrenheit or nine months at 100 degrees.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I’m guessing that was the water, right? I got something like dysentery working on a construction site in a remote part of Wyoming. Nothing but rumbling and cramps, then brown water spraying out. Went to a doc a couple months later in Flagstaff, AZ. After examining me and the “stool” sample, he told his intern “Man, I’ve never seen it that bad.”
It must have been horrible in the jungle with that. I can’t even imagine.
WKRP’s episode with Les Nesman and the turkeys had to be IMO the absolute most hilarious TV show I have ever witnessed.I smile every time I think of that episode.
Long ago, early eighties, while hunting I sat down in a fire break created by USFS during a forest fire the year before. The heel of my hunting boot struck a hard object in the dirt and when I pulled the object from the ground I realized it was a C-rat can of peanut butter. The production date was 1952. The can wasn’t corroded at all. I brushed the dirt off and opened it with my ever available John Wayne. I ate every bit of it and reminisced while doing so. Ham and lima beans were my favorite as well.
Meals Rejected by Ethiopians
Well that should cut down on the use of toilet paper for the month.
“Ham and lima beans were my favorite as well.”
My Dad’s cousin was in WWII and wrote in his memoirs about the rations. He said he got to Europe awhile after D-day. Guys were giving up their ham and pork rations - he loved it!
Then he got closer to the action and they drove and walked over the dead Germans. With the pigs feeding on their corpses. He stopped eating those rations too!
LOL
It might depend on the pill; things work differently on different people, and a laxative might be worse than the problem, especially in military situations.
But from my own experience, probiotics are very helpful for fixing a number of ills in that area, and I doubt many people would have bad side-effects from them.
I don’t know how ‘accepted’ probiotics are among the medical experts, but they might be a good thing to include in MREs.
-JT
The test is already flawed IMO.....
A research study at the US Army Institute of Environmental Medicine in Natick, MA is being conducted to determine the effects of eating the Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE) military ration on gut health. To be eligible, you must:
- Be 18-62 years old.
- Be willing to eat and drink only MRE items for 21 consecutive days.
- Not be trying to lose weight.
- Be willing to give blood, urine and fecal samples.
- Not have a history of gastrointestinal problems.
- Meet additional screening criteria.
Study participation will last 6 weeks. You will be asked to continue eating your normal diet for 31 d or to eat nothing but MREs for 21 d and then your normal diet for 10 d.
During the study you will visit our lab in Natick, MA for ~3 hours 4 separate times. We will also meet with you at our lab or at your home/place of work for 30-60 min at least 3 days/week during the study.
Data collection will include questionnaires, and blood, urine and fecal samples. Volunteers will be compensated up to $200 for completing the study. If interested contact Nick at nicholes.j.armstrong.civ@mail.mil.
Only folks near Natick MA will be tested. Different bugs in the guts of testers from all over the USA would be better than just one locality.
Just assign GI’s to test their GI’s versus this anybody wanna volunteer crap....
Me too, C’s in Vietnam, LRP’s later on. I often think of pound cake, that stuff was good. The wife still carries a P38 on her key ring.
Having some MREs around is not a bad idea.
REMF?
I’m curious, is that the rear echelon type person, or does that mean something else today?
I got something like dysentery working on a construction site in a remote part of Wyoming. Nothing but rumbling and cramps, then brown water spraying out. Went to a doc a couple months later in Flagstaff, AZ. After examining me and the “stool†sample, he told his intern “Man, I’ve n
ever seen it that bad.â€
sounds like giardia.
The affectionate term is “butt coffee”.
I’ve gotten giardia in the Sierras. This was MUCH worse than giardia.
ummm,.....they have had troops in the fields eating mre’s for months to years, and they need this study?
mre’s require supplements with fiber, magnesium, vit c, and other supplements. the higher salt content is good for troops doing physical work, but too much salt and not enough water will give you kidney stones.
LOL...yep, that describes it. Didn’t need a colonoscopy in those younger days, but I was all prepped for one — the natural way.
Turkeys can fly. :-)
they last past their stamped date, if kept in cool drier conditions.
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