Incoming United States Army Basic Combat Trainees Report Lower Dietary Supplement Use than Active-Duty Soldiers

Abstract

Background

Dietary supplement (DS) use by active-duty service members has been extensively studied, with >70% reporting use largely for purported effects on physical performance, weight management, and health. However, the prevalence of DS use among civilian incoming military trainees, before basic combat training, has not been extensively examined.

Objectives

This study aimed to compare the prevalence of DS use among incoming United States (US) Army trainees with a cohort of active-duty soldiers.

Methods

Using a similar questionnaire, US Army male infantry soldiers (n = 451, mean time in service 9.2 y) reported DS use, and 112 incoming male infantry trainees reported use before starting basic combat training. Responses were classified into 9 predefined DS categories and were based on how many DSs a participant reported taking over a period of 1 wk. χ² or Fisher’s exact tests were used to compare frequencies of DS use between groups and across DS categories. The total number of categories from which participants reported using DSs was also calculated.

Results

Prevalence of DS use among soldiers was 81% compared with 59% for trainees (P < 0.001). The most frequently used DSs among soldiers were protein (58%), pre/post workout (48%), multivitamin/mineral (MVM; 48%), weight/fat loss (37%), and individual vitamin/mineral (IVM; 34%) products. The most frequently used DSs among trainees were protein (45%), pre/post workout (28%), MVM (24%), IVM (23%), and muscle-building (21%) products. Trainees used less DSs across all categories (all P < 0.05) and consumed DSs from fewer categories than soldiers (median: 1.0 compared with 2.0 categories; P < 0.001).

Conclusions

DS use was higher in soldiers than in incoming US Army trainees overall and across all categories of DSs. These cross-sectional findings indicate that DS use may change between the start of army training and active-duty service. Longitudinal analyses should be conducted to assess changes in DS use over time.