Infectious diarrhea has been a longstanding problem for military personnel. During the American Civil War, 44,558 Union soldiers died of diarrhea or dysentery compared to 110,070 combat related deaths.(2)

Fortunately, with improved hygiene, sanitation and antibiotics, the mortality from diarrhea has been almost eliminated. Despite improvements, diarrhea still remains a serious health issue affecting the readiness of the troops.

A survey of US military troops at the time of completion of their tour in Iraq and Afghanistan found that 70% of deployed forces were afflicted by at least one episode of diarrhea, and 56% reported having several episodes of diarrhea-related illnesses.(3) In addition, 45% of respondents reported that the illness resulted in decreased job performance, with a median loss of 3 days.

The cost of these intestinal illnesses has reached $113 million for treatment and lost productivity.

The Department of Defense Combat Feeding Directorate is investigating whether probiotics can enhance the intestinal health of the soldier. The challenge is to create probiotics-fortified food that stand up to the military’s requirements for rations. If probiotics were added to MRE (meals ready to eat) they would need to have a shelf life of three years at room temperature. Unfortunately, probiotics are live organisms that don’t survive well when exposed to heat, oxygen and sunlight.

I’m hopeful the military will be able to engineer probiotics that will be effective in the field.

One of the significant points of this article is that probiotics are being recognized in the scientific community to be very important in maintaining intestinal health. For the military to undertake the expense of research and development of probiotics indicates how important these organisms are for our health.

Fortunately, there are a number of very beneficial probiotics like EndoMune that are available for your use, especially if you plan on traveling to less developed countries.

1) Kate Radway. Live bacteria called to active duty: U.S. military doing clinical trials on probiotics. Medill Reports: July 10, 2008

2) Michael A. Franchetti Civil War Medicine: Challenges and Triumphs JAMA. 2002;287(20):2718-a-2719.

3) Sanders JW, Putnam SD, Riddle MS, Tribble DR. Military importance of diarrhea: lessons from the Middle East. Curr Opin Gastroenterol. 2005 Jan;21(1):9-14. Review