Award Date

12-1-2017

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences

First Committee Member

Brian Schilling

Second Committee Member

Jack Young

Third Committee Member

Laura Kruskall

Fourth Committee Member

Adam Strang

Fifth Committee Member

Szu-Ping Lee

Number of Pages

69

Abstract

Pararescuemen are one group of Air Force Special Operations Forces (SOF) who engage in vigorous physical training to achieve mission readiness. This type of training requires high energy expenditures and matching dietary intake to support basic physiological needs and to meet performance demands. However, few studies have investigated the energy expenditure and dietary intake of SOF and none have specifically examined these behaviors in Pararescuemen. The goal of this investigation was to determine the energy expenditure and dietary intake of Pararescuemen during routine training - a period when these operators receive supervision and guidance for performance improvements, recovery, and career specific training from embedded personnel. To accomplish this, Pararescuemen from a local Air Force base used wearable physiological monitors, diet records, and physical activity records to estimate daily energy expenditures over a series of typical work and training days. Results showed that the energy expenditures and energy intake of Pararescuemen were imbalanced, with intakes lower than the estimated daily energy requirement. This imbalance was primarily caused by inadequate carbohydrate consumption. This finding may have implications for immediate and longer-term performance outcomes when undergoing routine training.

Keywords

energy expenditure; energy intake; pararescuemen; special operations forces

Disciplines

Defense and Security Studies | Medical Physiology | Nutrition | Physiology

File Format

pdf

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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