Health Food for Soldiers

One of the biggest challenges the Indian army has been confronting is maintaining its troops at tough high altitude battle field of more than 18,000 feet. At such high altitude, troops are exposed to inclement weather, perilous altitude, difficult terrain and psychological problems arising out of being isolated from the main land miles away from their near and dear ones. Under such circumstances if an army has to keep its soldiers physically fit and in high morale to fight against the enemy and protect the integrity of the nation, it has to be provided with palatable, healthy and adequate nutritious food. Hence, it is essential to formulate health foods keeping in aid the real need of the soldiers to alleviate such situations also. There are hundreds of phytochemicals reported to possess therapeutic effects. The health foods containing these phytochemicals can be classified in to six categories, viz. health promotion to improve health on a regular basis, sickness prevention to prevent seasonal climate related problems, disease control to fight early symptoms of health problems, supporting to complement the primary treatment and to combat adverse side effects of harsh drugs during sickness, recuperating to revive and regain vitality after sickness, rejuvenating to repair damages and body malfunctions to restore health.