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Reports in the literature suggested that the sol-
diers lacked of energy and nutrient intake, espe-
cially during basic recruit training (Moore, Friedl,
Kramer, Martinez-Lopez, Hoyt, Tulley, DeLany,
Askew & Vogel, 1992). It is questioned whether the
energy intake was adequate for energy requirements
at each Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3 during basic
recruit training. Lack of energy and nutrient intake
cause body mass loss and lowered the soldier's per-
formance, which may lead to attrition during basic
recruit training (Lee,McCreary & Villeneuve, 2011;
Niebuhr, Scott, Li, Bedno, Han & Powers, 2009). The
earliest study on Malaysian recruits was done by Isa
(1991) where he found that recruits ate less and had
low energy intake during the military cookhouse
operation in basic recruit training centre. Another
problem with the menu provided is, the training
intensity varies in each training phase, thus energy
requirements are different for each training phase.
Phase 2 basic recruit training needs higher level of
energy requirements because the recruits consist-
ently go for field training (Isa, 1991). Hence, it is
questioned whether the food provided is sufficient
for each training phase, especially at Phase 2 train-
ing. The recruits may spend more time on physical
training at Phase 2 BT yet still consume the same
amount of food provided by the menu at Phase 1
basic recruit training (Jesse, Training Cell Warrant
Officer I, personal communication, July 30, 2011).
There are limited studies or scholarly research that
has explored the nutrient content of menu provided
by the contract catering in the military foodservice.
The objectives of this study were to evaluate the
energy, macronutrients and micronutrients content
of menu and to compare the nutrient values of the
menu to the dietary recommendation, the Recom-
mended Nutrient Intakes (RNIs) of Malaysia and
the military dietary recommendation, (PMAT) for
nutritional adequacy of male recruits participating
in basic recruit training.
the study. This study had approval from the ethics
committee of the Medical Research Ethics Com-
mittee of the Putra University of Malaysia and
permission to conduct this study was granted from
the Malaysian Armed Forces.
3.2
Evaluation of menu
Executive chef of the contract catering was
requested to provide standard recipes and stand-
ard food portions of foods and beverages served
in the basic training centre. Energy and nutrients
for standard food portion of each food and drink
during breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner were
obtained with Nutritionist Pro™ (First Data Bank,
USA, 2003) with reference to the Malaysian Food
Composition Tables (Tee, Mohd Ismail, Mohd
Nasir & Khatijah, 1997). To obtain average nutri-
ent information on a 4-week cycle menu, the menu
from the 3rd week of a 4-week cycle menu was ran-
domly chosen to analyse the energy and nutrients
and compared with the RNIs of Malaysia (2005)
and PMAT (2003) to determine the nutritional
adequacy of the menu for the recruits.
3.3
Statistical methods
Nutrient content of menu was analysed using IBM
SPSS Version 21 for the mean, standard devia-
tion, and percentages. The average nutrient data
of energy, protein, carbohydrate, fat and selected
micronutrients were compared to the Recom-
mended Nutrient Intakes (RNIs) of Malaysia for
male aged 19 to 29 years (National Coordinating
Committee on Food and Nutrition, 2005) and
the military dietary recommendation for recruits
in training (PMAT, 2003). No current RNI exists
for sodium, however, an intake of 2400 mg/day or
less is recommended by the Institute of Medicine
(Institute of Medicine, IOM, 2005).
4 RESULTS
3 METHODS
Macronutrients and micronutrients analysis of
menu is summarized in Table 3.1. The nutrients
content of menu was evaluated on 7 days from
three main meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and
snacks (morning and tea breaks). The menu was
analysed for the energy and nutrients based on the
detailed recipe information provided by the execu-
tive chef of the catering. The menu usually had two
options whereby soldiers may choose the types of
entrees and vegetables whereas the starches, des-
serts and sides provided had only one option. The
energy from the menu provided was within the
range of 2772 to 2843 kcal, and met the energy
recommendation of RNIs but it did not meet
3.1
Study population
Basic recruit training centre, Port Dickson is the
only training centre for recruits in Malaysia. The
catering in this training centre participated in the
study, had one main cookhouse for cooking pur-
poses (B1) and three satellite kitchens with din-
ing facilities (B2, B3 and B4) for food receiving,
reserved for male recruits. For one satellite kitchen,
the feeding strength was around 200 to 300 din-
ers per meal. All of the dining facilities provide
same menu for all recruits. Dining facilities for
male recruits were selected due to high proportion
of male recruits and to avoid gender bias during
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