E. Vandal1, R. Laroche-Nantel2, I. Giroux1
1School of Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON
2 Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON

Basic military training is essential to train recruits. However, diet in this context may be suboptimal to meet nutritional needs, which may lead to an increased risk of injury.

To assess dietary factors affecting injury risk of military recruits.

A search was performed in PubMed and Embase with the topics "recruit",
“nutrition” and “injuries”. Articles published in English before December 2021 were imported into Covidence for selection by title and abstract. A second selection was made by full article, followed by a narrative synthesis of the results.

One hundred and twenty-four articles were listed, including 60 duplicates. Selection by title and abstract yielded 35 articles, of which 21 were included. The results suggest that vitamin D (n=9) and calcium (n=8) at daily doses of 1000 IU and 1000 mg respectively tend to reduce the risk of stress fracture during basic military training. Moreover, these risks are increased in the presence of anemia (n=2) and women seem to be more vulnerable to it (n=4). The main fracture sites associated with this training are the tibia, metatarsus and pubis (n=4).

This review assessed dietary factors affecting injury risk among military recruits. Although the results indicate that vitamin D and calcium intake meeting the recommended nutrient intakes would be associated with a lower risk of stress fractures, no article has evaluated the link between these nutrients and other types of injuries in the recruits.

A better understanding of the essential nutrients in the diet that can limit the risk of injury in military recruits could help maximize training, keep recruits healthy and minimize injury-related costs.

University of Ottawa Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program Scholarship