TABLE 3.

Contributions from military nutrition

Date	Individual or institution	Contributions
1778	Benjamin Rush, Surgeon General, Continental Army	“Diet of soldiers should consist chiefly of vegetables.”
1800	Count Rumford	Developed “Rumford’s Soup” as an inexpensive but nutritious ration to feed the Bavarian poor and European soldiers.
1810	Nicolas Appert, French chef	Developed a canning method to preserve food in glass jars for French armies on long forays. Napoleon awarded Appert a 12,000 franc prize for the development.
1810	Peter Durand, British inventor	Received patent from King George III for invention of cylindrical canister made of iron coated with tin.
1813	Bryan Donkin, John Hall	Set up first commercial canning factory and produced first canned goods for the British Army and Navy.
1846	Henry Evans	Invented a machine that could manufacture tin cans at a rate of 60 per hour.
1858	John Ordronaux, Army surgeon	Published “Hints on the Preservation of Health in the Armies,” which provided the basis for the “Dietary Guidelines for Soldiers,” which is similar to today’s US Department of Health and Human Services/USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
1864	Eben Horsford, professor	Proposed a light-weight, low-volume “marching ration” of roasted wheat or self-rising flour and dried and compressed sausage beef.
1866	J Osterhoudt	Patented the tin can with key opener.
1870	William Lyman	Patented the first easy-to-use household can opener with a wheel that rolls and cuts around the rim of the can.
1870	German Army	Developed Erbwurst, a combination of dried pea meal, fat, and bacon compressed into the form of a sausage and used during the Franco-Prussian War. When mixed with hot water, Erbwurst made a rich, savory, nourishing soup.
1895	Alonzo E Taylor, member, US Food Administration	Advocated substituting other cereal grains for wheat and the judicious use of mixed flours to make “victory bread” to conserve wheat under WWI conditions.
1919	Samuel C Prescott, food technologist, Army Surgeon General’s Office	Developed improved dehydration methods and published “Dried Vegetables for Army Use.”
1940	Paul Howe, Chief, Nutrition Division, Army Surgeon General’s Office	Suggested to the NAS/NRC Food and Nutrition Board that all flour purchased by the military be enriched with B vitamins. As a result, enriched flour became available everywhere, for civilians as well as for the military.
1941	Ancel Keys, physiologist, University of Minnesota	As an advisor to the US War Department, designed a nonperishable lightweight individual combat ration that could fit in a soldier’s pocket and which became widely known as the “K-ration.”
1942–1945	Quartermaster Food and Container Institute of the US Armed Forces and the US Army’s Medical Nutrition Laboratory, Chicago	Developed individual “D,” “K,” “C,” Survival and Emergency combat rations and the “Ten-in-One” and “B” group rations, consisting of canned and dehydrated components.
1950s	US Department of Defense	Funded research to develop methods to use radiation to lengthen food storage time. In 1958 the FDA classified irradiation as a food additive; thus, irradiated foods had to be proven safe for human consumption. Although the FDA approved the irradiation treatment of some foods (eg, hamburger patties), consumer concerns have limited the availability of irradiated food products in the marketplace.
1950s–1960s	US Army Quartermaster Food and Container Institute	The Meal, Combat, Individual (MCI) replaced the “C” ration as the primary individual ration used by the military. The Long-Range Patrol (LRP) was the first flexible packaged ration to enter the military supply system. The LRP was based on a precooked freeze-dehydrated main dish that could be rehydrated or eaten dry.
1977–1978	David Schnakenberg, Nutritional Physiologist, Letterman Army Institute of Research	Conducted a “Nutritional Evaluation of a Fast Food System Afloat” aboard an aircraft carrier operating in the Mediterranean Sea at the request of the US Navy. Limited refrigerated storage space caused rapid exhaustion of fresh milk supplies and reconstituted nonfat dry milk consumption was very low, resulting in greatly reduced calcium and riboflavin intakes. Introduced UHT milk and the use of vitamin A–fortified milk shakes made from dry base and vitamin C–fortified extruded French fries and vitamin C–fortified dry beverage base. Still in use today, these changes to the Navy Afloat food service system improved nutrient intakes and consumer satisfaction.
1980s	US Army Natick Research and Development Center/US Marine Corps	Introduced a Food Packet Assault (FPA) to meet a US Marine Corps requirement for a lightweight ration with high nutrient content for individuals in nonresupply conditions on the basis of technological advances in freeze-drying and compression. A similar Arctic ration was developed for use in operations requiring heavy exertion under extreme cold conditions.
1980s	US Army Natick Research and Development Center	The Meal, Ready-To-Eat Individual (MRE) ration, packaged in a flexible retort pouch, was introduced as a replacement for the Meal, Combat, Individual “C” ration.
1980s	David Schnakenberg, US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine	During a 60-d long-term feeding trial, problems in inadequate nutrient consumption and excessive body weight loss were observed and recommendations were made and implemented to improve the MRE. More acceptable entrée items were substituted, and a new shelf-stable bread packet, individual bottles of mini Tabasco sauce (McIlhenny Company), and flavored carbohydrate electrolyte beverage powders were added.
1990s	US Army Natick Research and Development Center/US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine	Developed a Fielded Individual Ration Improvement Program (FIRIP) to improve the variety, acceptability, consumption, and nutritional intake of individual combat rations to enhance performance on the battlefield. A Flameless Ration Heater (FRH) has been included in most MREs since 1993. There are now 24 different menus, including 4 vegetarian menus.
2000s	US Army Natick Soldier RD&E Center/US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine	On the basis of recommendations of the NAS/NRC/IOM Committee on Military Nutrition Research, US military began to provide caffeine-delivery systems to maintain cognitive performance and physical endurance, particularly in situations of sleep deprivation. Currently, a caffeine-containing nutrient bar (HOOAH; D’Andrea Brothers LLC) and a caffeine supplement chewing gum “Stay Alert” (Stay with Marketright Inc) are being produced for the military. The development of a new First Strike Ration (FSR) was fielded in 2008 as a restricted-calorie ration for remote areas such as Afghanistan. The FSR takes advantage of major advancements in intermediate moisture foods, glucose optimization, and novel packaging designs.
2010s	US Army Natick Soldier RD&E Center/US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine	In development:
		• A Nutritionally Optimized First Strike Ration (NOFSR) for use under the first 72 h of intense combat; this will contain a balance of enhancements formulated to allow faster recovery of war fighters from physical and mental fatigue
		Food enhancers being studied:
		• Anti-inflammatory compounds (eg, quercetin, curcumin) to bolster immune function
		• Amino acid tyrosine to enhance decision making in extreme and stressful environmental conditions
		• Probiotics and prebiotics to improve gastrointestinal health
		• Omega-3 fatty acids to potentially improve cognitive performance, wound healing, and mood state, and to reduce combat symptoms
		• Bioactive compounds such as curcumin, resveratrol, flavonoids, isoflavones, flavanols, catechins, and theanine on the basis of recommendations contained in a 2011 report from the NAS/NRC/IOM Committee on Military Nutrition Research entitled “Nutrition and Traumatic Brain Injury—Improving Acute and Subacute Health Outcomes in Military Personnel”
2010s	US Air Force/Department of Defense	Initiated the Food Transformation Initiative at 6 US Air Force bases, a pilot program designed to improve the quality, variety, and availability of food operations and to increase the utilization of DFACs by airmen and their families. The First Lady Michelle Obama visited the Hercules Dining Facility at Little Rock Air Force Base on 9 February 2012 to observe the Food Transformation Initiative on base. She was accompanied by Johnathan Woodson, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, who announced the Military Health System’s new obesity and nutrition awareness campaign. The campaign will include changes to bring more fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and entrée choices that are lower in fat to 1100 service member dining facilities in the coming months. Healthier foods will become more available in Department of Defense schools and other places where service members and their families purchase food on base, including vending machines and snack bars.
2010s	US Army/US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine/Aaron Crombi	The Army incorporated new Department of Defense menu standards into a Soldier Fueling Initiative announced by Mark Hertling in September 2010. The healthy foods offered will include whole-grain breads, cereals, and pasta. Crombi has recently conducted dining facility intervention studies at 10 Fort Bragg, NC, DFACs by using photography and visual estimation to assess food and nutrient intakes of male enlisted soldiers. The energy, fat, and refined grain intakes were significantly reduced while improving customer satisfaction indexes in 5 intervention DFACs compared with 5 control DFACs after 6 mo of intervention. Crombi’s next project will test more aggressive interventions at the Camp Mackall DFAC at Fort Bragg.

¹DFAC, Dining Facility Administration Center; FDA, Food and Drug Administration; IOM, Institute of Medicine; NAS, National Academy of Sciences; NRC, National Research Council; RD&E, Research Development & Engineering Center; UHT, ultrahigh temperature; WWI, World War I.