Military Special Operations and the Ketogenic Diet

A long time ago, in another one of my lifetimes, I was an Air Force pilot.

I primarily flew Special Operations C-130 cargo aircraft known as an MC-130. We would deliver special operations forces to some of the worst places on earth. Forces like Navy SEALS, Army Green Berets and some people who the Government would rather we not talk about.

It was a whole lot of fun. And my coworkers were some of the finest people I’ve ever met.

Back then diet wasn’t much of a consideration. We were the hard charging ‘Better to burn out than fade away’ crowd.

It was expected that after either a training flight or an actual mission alcohol would be waiting for us. Unless we were deployed to a country or war zone that did not allow alcohol. Then the alcohol really flowed on the way home once we left the country. Pent up demand!

As for food, let’s just say the dining tents left a lot to be desired regarding nutrition. It was the standard American diet served by the contractor who provided the lowest bid to the government.

That’s why I was excited to read this article:

“Defense Department to ban beer and pizza? Mandatory keto diet may enhance military performance”

The military is experimenting with the ketogenic diet to improve readiness. The Special Operations community in particular is interested for this reason:

““One of the effects of truly being in ketosis is that it changes the way your body handles oxygen deprivation, so you can actually stay underwater at depths for longer periods of time and not go into oxygen seizures,” Sanders said at the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference in May.”

Navy SEALs and other special operators use equipment called oxygen rebreathers. Think of them as scuba tanks but with oxygen, not air. Instead of exhaling the oxygen into the water creating bubbles, the rebreathers recycle the oxygen and allow the commando to breathe it again.

No bubbles means no detection from someone on the surface. The SEALs can sneak into places underwater undetected.

The trouble is that the body doesn’t do well with too much oxygen. When you breathe oxygen at too high a pressure (think too far underwater) for too long, the oxygen becomes toxic to your body. Seizures or even death can happen as a result.

Hardly a desired condition for a SEAL on a mission.

It may not be practical or ethical to force soldiers to eat a certain way. The article alludes to this problem. However, many soldiers will want to do everything they can to improve their performance.

Their lives may very well depend on their performance.

Unfortunately the article above was from 2019. I tried doing more research and it seems like the diet didn’t seem to really catch on since then.

Another article in January, 2024 looked at what soldiers might eat before they go on long marches.

The Army’s 2022 recommendations for nutrition (the current recommendations as of 2024) prior to these marches is to consume 1-2g/kg of carbohydrates 1 hour prior to the march. They also recommend to limit high fiber and high fat foods to ‘avoid GI distress’.

The article then talked about an alternate experiment with 29 service members who were put in nutritional ketosis prior to the march.

The researchers didn’t see a big difference in physical performance during the march between those who ‘carb-loaded’ and the keto subjects. This could possibly be due to both sets being relatively young and in good shape.

However, the researchers did see a big difference in the ketogenic soldiers body composition. During the 12 weeks of the study, the ketogenic soldiers saw the following results:

• 7.7kg reduction in body mass

• 5.1% reduction in body fat

• 43.7% reduction in visceral fat

• 48% improvement in insulin sensitivity

The soldiers on the carbohydrate diet did not see any improvement in these markers.

I’m hoping the military keeps looking into the ketogenic diet. Not only would it potentially improve their performance. It may also cut down on a lot of the problems that military members suffer later in life. And it may cut down our tax burden for paying for health care of those military members.

If the Keto diet can help elite military forces, imagine what it can do for senior citizens.