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Science Forum Index » Military Forum » Nutritional supplements for America's Special Ops
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| Author |
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| Will Brink |
 Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 11:34 am |
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Special Operations Forces (SOF) such as Navy SEALs, Army Special Forces,
Air Force Para-Rescue, and Marine Recon, as well as law enforcement
tactical units (SWAT), face unique challenges that manifest themselves
both physically and mentally.
The extremes of training and combat can dramatically reduce performance:
Immune suppression; changes in mental acuity/increases in reaction time;
reductions in androgen production (testosterone); increased susceptibility
to cold; increased oxidative stress; and other factors will affect the
performance of these soldiers directly or indirectly. These
highly-specialized soldiers are always looking for an edge to avoid many
of the aforementioned problems, and any edge can mean the difference
between life and death, or the ability to perform at their peak.
Many soldiers in special operations are turning to the use of nutritional
supplements in hopes that it will combat some of the problems listed
above. For example, the Naval Health Research Center examined the use of
nutritional supplements by SEALs and found approximately 78% of the Naval
Special Warfare community poled currently use a variety of nutritional
supplements ( "Use of supplements by Navy SEALs" Med.Sci.in
Sports.Excercise. Vol.30, Number 5 (S) 1998). The study also found that
the source of information SEALs relied on in choosing which supplements to
use came from their fellow operators and bodybuilding magazines. Neither
of these sources would be considered as accurate and unbiased sources of
information.
A dietary supplement survey given to 2,215 men entering U.S. Army Special
Forces and Ranger training schools (Arsenault J, Kennedy J..Dietary
supplement use in U.S. Army Special Operations candidates. Mil Med.
1999.Jul;164(7):495-501) found Eighty-five percent of the men reported
past or present use of a supplement, 64% reported current use, and 35%
reported daily use of nutritional supplements for a variety of reasons. It
is reasonable to assume similar figures exist for other branches of the US
military in regards to its special operations units
Cont at NavySeals.com:
http://www.navyseals.com/community/articles/article.cfm?id=9847 |
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