12.01.09
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently conducted a two-day workshop that focused on the potential use of EPA and DHA omega 3s as “nutritional armor” for the U.S. military. Alongside representatives from the Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega 3s (GOED) and former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona, attendees included the Brigadier General in charge of soldier fitness for the Army, the Lt. Colonel in charge of food distribution in the Marine Corps, the chief dietitian for the Army, the head nutritionist for the Navy SEALs and world renowned omega 3 scientists. The U.S. military is concerned about the heavy costs of depression, suicide, physical and mental stress, slow wound healing and surgical complications, all of which are areas where omega 3s have shown benefits in human, randomized, controlled trials, according to Adam Ismail, executive director of GOED. The workshop was designed to give key decision makers in the military an overview of the science in each of these areas and to discuss the feasibility of how to get EPA/DHA into the military diet. There was unanimous agreement among nutritionists that more EPA and DHA is needed in the diet of military personnel, but exactly how remains unclear. At the close of the workshop, a panel of key players with influence over the military diet agreed that EPA/DHA intakes needed to increase.