Charleston, SC Economic Development

SCRA scores $1M contract to slim soldiers’ waistlines

Mar. 13, 2008
Charleston Regional Business Journal
By Daily Journal Staff
The South Carolina Research Authority announced this week that one of its programs is the beneficiary of a $1 million federal contract to help improve the health and readiness of America’s military recruits.

Under the contract, the Nutrition Research Consortium, a partnership of SCRA, Clemson University, the Medical University of South Carolina and the University of South Carolina, is charged with developing a comprehensive plan to combat the advent of an overweight military, according to a press release announcing the deal.

Researchers don’t plan to focus on treatment for currently enlisted husky soldiers, but instead on “prevention of the problem,” said Russell Pate, professor and associate vice president for health sciences at USC, and the lead researcher on the study dubbed “Troop Recruit Improvement,” or TRIM, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense.

The portion of the recruitment-age population too heavy to meet weight standards for enlistment is growing, and likely to continue to grow alongside escalating rates of child and adolescent obesity, added Patrick O’Neil, a professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at MUSC and director of the Weight Management Center.

“Understanding the causes of obesity in these groups is the first step in preventing it to ensure the availability of a fit, healthy and reliable recruitment base,” he said.

The TRIM study will follow a group of subjects through recruitment age and beyond, the press release said, noting that 80% of recruits who exceed military weight-for-height standards at entry leave the military before they complete their first term of enlistment. 		related information