A service member reaches for a donut at Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma on July 29, 2021. Almost 75% of active-duty soldiers were found to be overweight during a nine-month study period amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a newly published report said. (Kayla Christens/U.S. Air Force)
American soldiers piled on the pounds during the pandemic, with about three-quarters of the roughly 192,000 active-duty subjects analyzed in a newly published study deemed overweight or obese during a nine-month stretch.
The findings suggest that the Army faced “significant public health and readiness concerns” as a result of having greater numbers of soldiers who were too heavy, authors of a report published Tuesday in the scientific journal BMC Public Health said.
The retrospective study used data from the Military Health System Data Repository. Body mass index was calculated for a period from February 2019 to January 2020 and another from September 2020 to June 2021, giving researchers time frames before the onset of COVID-19 and during the pandemic, respectively.
“Based on the results from this study and the literature, increases in BMI among Army soldiers are likely to continue unless there is intervention,” the report said.
Nearly 74% of the soldiers whose data was examined in the study were found to have an unhealthy BMI during the latter time span, a jump from about 68% in the pre-pandemic period.
Among those, over 23% were classified as obese during the pandemic, up from 18% before the coronavirus began to spread globally, the data showed.
The largest changes in BMI occurred in junior enlisted soldiers between the ages of 20 and 24. These troops often live in barracks, attend organized physical training and get their meals at dining facilities on base.
The authors of the report highlighted the strict body fat standards soldiers must maintain to be considered fit for duty.
BMI is the most used method by the Army to estimate body fat. The number of soldiers considered overweight or obese was already rising before the pandemic, according to the study.
But in March 2020, Army leaders restricted movements and activities to stop the spread of the virus at installations, likely making it tougher for troops to engage in healthy behavior, the authors said.
However, they stressed that the data cannot be used to establish what caused the weight gain.
Metrics such as waist circumference, skinfold measurements and body fat percentages — which can be misleading for overly muscular individuals, such as military personnel — were not included in the study, which was based solely on BMI.
“Future research into targeted measures to prevent obesity among soldiers during future public health emergencies is needed, especially in times of lockdown and social distancing measures,” the study concluded.
It added that further analysis of the effects of post-pandemic obesity on fitness levels would help to highlight the importance this issue has for the military.
