Valuing Health and Performance: A Case for Prioritizing Nutrition.

Introduction: Improving the dietary behaviors of personnel can result in positive impact beyond the individual, creating benefits for their organization and wider society. Military personnel endure extended periods of physical and cognitive activity. Healthful dietary behaviors by military personnel support preparedness; yet poor diet behaviors remain common and persistent, and adversely impact health and physical and cognitive performance.

The role of emotion regulation in decreasing alcohol harm for veterans.

Using the socio-ecological model, this study aims to understand factors associated with alcohol misuse in veterans of the New Zealand Defence Forces, and identify approaches for reducing harm. Using interviews, veterans were asked to recount their relationship to alcohol, and provide a narrative of its use before, during and after military service. Seven themes were identified including bars and drinking as 1) social hubs; and 2) social lubrication; providing others with 3) duty of care; the military 4) consequences of harmful drinking; and use of alcohol as 5) emotion regulation strategies; with the impact of that on 6) Civvy street, and 7) family impacts.

Streamlining COM-B model: Insights from the Healthy Eating Context.

The global rise in diet-related diseases highlights the urgent need for effective behavioural interventions. While theoretical frameworks like the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation-Behaviour (COM-B) model are valuable for understanding and influencing healthy eating behaviours, their practical application is often hindered by complexity and extensive measurement demands. This study addresses these challenges by testing a simplified version of the COM-B model, focusing on a select set of items representing seven core constructs.

Nutrition as a military capability to deliver human advantage: more people, more ready, more of the time.

Soldiers must achieve high-level mission-preparedness to endure extended periods of physical and cognitive activity, with unpredictable recovery, in all environments. Nutrition provides the foundation for health and performance. Militaries have not maximised the strategic and financial value that considering nutrition as a military capability could deliver.