Some military health experts say there is evidence that even legal forms of supplements can cause heart palpitations, loss of consciousness and death among troops.

NOTE from Larry Scott, VA Watchdog dot Org ... On one hand, medical personnel are blowing the whistle on dietary supplements ... on the other hand, DARPA has invested millions in research on dietary supplements for use on the battlefield.  Article here ...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/
nf08/nfMAR08/nf032608-2.htm

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A Focus on the Effects of Dietary Supplements Among Troops in War Zones

By JAMES DAO

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Alcohol and pornography are already off limits. Smoking is being actively discouraged. What might be next on the military’s list of forbidden vices for deployed troops?

One possible target: dietary supplements used by weight lifters to increase muscle mass.

Some military health experts say there is evidence that even the legal over-the-counter forms of such supplements can cause heart palpitations, loss of consciousness and death among troops, particularly those in desert climates like Afghanistan and Iraq.

Col. Erin Edgar, a physician who commanded the 28th Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad in 2006 and 2007, said his unit handled 2,332 cases of soldiers complaining of palpitations or fainting spells. Twenty percent of those soldiers reported using either prescription psychotropic drugs or performance-enhancing supplements.

In one case, Colonel Edgar said, a soldier who reported nothing more than “feeling bad” later died, possibly of a heart attack. Though Colonel Edgar does not know the precise cause of death, he said the soldier’s room was filled with legal performance-enhancing supplements.

While he is not prepared to advocate a ban on the products, Colonel Edgar did call for removing them from stores on military bases. “I just think we shouldn’t create the perception of D.O.D. endorsement,” he told participants at a conference here last week on military health research, referring to the Department of Defense.

His view did not go over well with some in the audience. A former Army captain, Charles R. Gatlin, said banning the supplements at stores on bases would hurt morale without necessarily safeguarding troops who were already in harm’s way.

“All that deployed guys can do in their spare time is eat, read and pump iron,” said Mr. Gatlin, who now works for a veterans assistance group. “Smoking, drinking and using supplements may not be very healthy, but neither is a 90-minute firefight.”

Ellen P. Embrey, the acting principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, who sat on a panel with Colonel Edgar, said there were no plans to remove the supplements from base stores. But she said the Pentagon was reviewing the products as part of a larger study into optimizing troop performance.

The problem with supplements, Colonel Edgar said, is that they often contain substances that can make users susceptible to heat stroke. Many products include stimulants like caffeine or ephedrine that increase metabolism but also raise the heart rate and blood pressure — not necessarily a good thing for troops in combat or a hot climate, he said.

Colonel Edgar, who is assuming leadership of the Army’s 18th Medical Command, said “elite troops,” including Special Operations forces, seem to use the supplements more cautiously and therefore have fewer problems. He is most concerned, he said, about soldiers who take excessive amounts of the supplements, which they view as “magic bullets” that will make them muscle-bound overnight.

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TOPICS: veterans, veterans' benefits, VA, Department of Veterans' Affairs, dietary supplements, ban