“Essential Substances and a Charge of Vivacity”: Nutrition Developer on the Optimal Diet for Russian Military Personnel

- You claim that you have developed a new generation of diets for our aircraft.

What is special about them and did you take into account the experience of the NWO?

- All our products are the result of scientific research and analysis of the experience of armed conflicts, including the NVO.

The novelty of the Leovita approach lies in the fact that we do not offer the same type of diet.

From our point of view, nutrition should be specialized.

More specifically, it should depend on the specifics of the tasks performed by the serviceman, natural and climatic conditions and the season.

For example, we have developed an arctic ration that supports the body's strength under conditions of cold stress.

In terms of quality and efficiency, this product is better than Western analogues.

Also, for the first time in Russia, we have developed a new line of food kits for special forces and military personnel who received minor injuries.

The logic is that the special forces need to constantly replenish intensively expended energy, and there is almost no time for cooking and eating.

Taking into account the experience of the SVO and other military operations, Leovit developed special snacks: cereals, meat, dairy, fruit.

They replenish energy, increase endurance and performance.

The diet for the wounded was developed by Leovit together with the Federal Research Center for Nutrition, Biotechnology and Food Safety.

This kit replaces conventional dietary nutrition and can be taken prior to hospitalization.

It contains therapeutic food products, including enteral (a type of nutrition in which food is absorbed through the mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal tract. -

).

We proceeded from the fact that servicemen who received injuries and injuries on the battlefield should not take ordinary food - it is coarse for them and can only worsen the condition of the body.

For this reason, the most neutral products are included in the new generation kit.

For temperate climates, we have created a basic diet that, with the help of special products and various components, can be adapted to a cold and mountainous desert climate.

It is quite obvious that in the cold you need more calories, by about 15%, and in a hot climate zone - about the same less than the base.

There is such a thing as eating.

It is just determined by the optimality of the diet, that is, a soldier with different taste preferences will still eat it, having received the necessary substances and a charge of vivacity.

Relatively speaking, in the north they should eat porridge with meat, and in the south - porridge with vegetables.

• Patient of the 3rd Central Military Clinical Hospital (TsVKG) named after.

  A.A.

  Vishnevsky

• © Russian Ministry of Defense

- In what proportions should then be distributed proteins, fats and carbohydrates in the diet of a soldier?

- According to medical and technical requirements, the formula for a balanced diet should be as follows: one, one, four, that is, 130 g of protein and 130 g of fat should account for 520 g of carbohydrates.

The total number of calories is about 4 thousand.

For the north, this formula changes towards fats and carbohydrates, in the south - proteins and carbohydrates.

However, with the help of familiar foods, changing the ratio of substances is almost impossible - at least this is a very time-consuming task.

What have we done?

For military personnel who need to refresh themselves without any time spent on cooking, our specialists have created a functional product for the army (military) purpose.

It consists of various bars that actually replace traditional biscuits with cereals, vegetables, meat and cereals.

The set includes a bar with milk, which replaces whole condensed milk in terms of nutrients and calories.

A vegetable bar with meat weighing 115 g replaces one 250-gram can of canned food with similar products.

The result is a small-sized diet that meets all standards, which, from our point of view, is optimally suited for Russian paratroopers.

- Are there any regulations, standards for how much food for combat units should weigh?

- The small size and weight of the kits, as well as the convenience of carrying them, are of utmost importance in the combat zone.

This is especially true of units operating in isolation from the main forces, most often these are the so-called sabotage and reconnaissance groups.

Such military personnel often move to the designated area on foot.

So imagine that in their equipment, in addition to personal protective equipment, there should be a variety of weapons, a fairly large amount of ammunition, and even food and water.

How much can even a physically strong and hardy warrior carry on his shoulders?

40-50 kg, no more.

And how many calories, forces will he spend during the transition to a given location?

Naturally, a soldier needs to quickly replenish the spent energy and carry as little food as possible.

• Preparing to eat in the field

• © Russian Ministry of Defense

Small-sized (wearable) power supplies are also extremely useful because they help to hold out longer if a group of military personnel for various reasons did not reach the evacuation point at the appointed time.

What then to eat for the fighters if they are stuck on a combat mission for a few more days?

In such conditions, it is completely irrational to include canned food in a portable supply.

It's not just extra weight.

Canned meat, which is so accustomed to in the army and which is so fond of our citizens, is not the most useful product.

Beef and pork, when preserved, are processed at approximately 160 ºС.

At this temperature, proteins coagulate, their structure collapses - as a result, our soldier consumes mainly fats.

What can replace the traditional canned stew?

The answer has long been found.

In addition to meat bars, this is a soft package with meat that has undergone so-called mild sterilization and heat treatment within 120 ºС, when protein coagulation does not occur. 

Such a stew can be stored for two to three years.

This may be less than that of analogues in a tin, but at the same time we save in the mass of carried cargo (on average, stew in a soft package weighs 15% less) and significantly benefit in quality, because military personnel will receive a normal amount of proteins.

On average, the total weight of the portable power kits that we produce is 300-400 g. In a critical situation, it may well be enough for about three days.

This means that all this time the serviceman will save strength for active actions.

- Can we say that the whole secret of small-sized products, including yours, is in an increased concentration of carbohydrates?

“There are a lot of carbohydrates in small-sized food kits all over the world.

These substances are an uncontested source of so-called fast energy.

They kill hunger, nourish nerve cells, stimulate mental activity.

It is clear that you can’t sit on such a “diet” for a long time, but in critical situations, carbohydrates have really proven to be an excellent assistant, allowing military personnel to maintain functional abilities.

Based on the experience of analyzing armed conflicts, I can say that servicemen in a zone of intense hostilities, in principle, should not be distracted by meeting such needs as eating.

• Chefs of the field kitchen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation

• © Russian Ministry of Defense

In general, the need for food depends on the environment, the amount of energy expended and the psycho-emotional state of the fighter.

It also happens that if a fighter is focused on performing a combat mission, then on such adrenaline he can not eat for a long time, not feel hungry and very tired.

During such periods, a serviceman, in order to maintain his functionality, sometimes just one briquette of a special dry ration is enough.

However, this concentration of internal forces and reserves cannot last long.

To prevent damage to the body, a soldier who was on a meager food supply needs rotation - placement in a place where you can safely eat hot food and recuperate.

In the NWO zone, for example, this is a field kitchen. 

If we talk about the composition of wearable rations, then the secret of their effectiveness is not only that they put as many carbohydrates as possible there.

It is important to choose high-quality raw materials and add the necessary proteins, vitamins, trace elements.

- Are there food products that can at least to some extent replace water in the army?

- Water, as you know, is contained in many products, but dry rations (if we are talking about it) in principle exclude its content.

At the same time, the problem of drinking water is always extremely acute in the combat zone.

For example, in Afghanistan, our servicemen often had to drink just any water that was nearby.

Such monstrous unsanitary conditions led to numerous cases of dysentery and outbreaks of other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.

So that military personnel do not suffer so much from the shortage of normal fresh water, compact filtration devices have been developed.

But if the water is literally dirty, then filtering it will no longer make it clean.

We took care of this problem and developed drinking water in shockproof packaging.

It is purified with silver ions and processed with ultraviolet rays.

The shelf life of each package is five years.

They can be taken into a wearable reserve and dropped by military personnel from the air as part of various cargoes.

If the water freezes, it won't break either.

- What do you see as the main drawback of modern army nutrition?

“The situation in our Armed Forces is changing for the better.

And I spoke about the shortcomings in general terms above: there is still too much fat in the army diet, the change of seasons, geography and other specifics of the duty station are not sufficiently taken into account in nutrition.