Nutritional Status in Some Iranian Naval Units

Healthy diet has an important role in the success of military operations, so the commanders and all forces must understand the relationship between proper diet and the physical ability to perform physical activity. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the nutritional status of the military in order to provide strategies to improve the health status and increase the efficiency of individuals.

This study has been done on 89 navies in the cities of Bandar Abbas and Bandar Lengeh, south of Iran in 2019. Demographic information, IPAQ and FFQ168 questionnaires were used to collect data.

There were 89 navy men with an average age of 32.6 years. The average daily calorie intake was 2973 kcal. The average daily intake of milk and dairy products, vegetables, fruits, cereals and meats were 1.2, 3.15, 3.55, 1.2 and 1.6 units per day, respectively. The highest deficiency of the main groups of the pyramid was related to the dairy group (77.5%). In the evaluation of micronutrient status, deficiency of calcium (48.3%), vitamin A (83%), zinc (52.8%), omega 3 (46.1%) and vitamin C (33.7%) were reported.

This study showed that the navy in the field of food intake, especially in the consumption of dairy products and sources of calcium, vegetables, fruits, protein sources, omega 3 and energy intake needs to intervene to increase access and consumption of food items.