The three intermediate snacks were usually 1-2 sandwiches with jam or chocolate spread. All food was provided at no cost to the recruits. Dietary supplements were not given or encouraged, though they were not prohibited and their use was not monitored. Formally, RG7420 order recruits were allowed to get additional snacks at the canteen, but they

were www.selleckchem.com/products/a-1210477.html not given access to the canteen on a regular basis. They might also have eaten extra food sent by relatives. Injury assessment Injury surveillance and bone stress injury diagnosis took place over the course of the entire 6-month training period. We used three sources of data: the unit physicians treating the recruits recorded overuse injuries separately in a personal surveillance table. Two orthopedic surgeons examined the recruits every 2-3 weeks and registered their findings in the recruits’ central army Computerized Patient Record (CPR). Stress reactions and fractures were diagnosed by clinical examination

and confirmed by radiography or bone scintigraphy [26]. Sixty two recruits without clinical signs of stress reactions and those whose imaging ruled out a stress reaction or fracture XAV939 were classified as the NSF group. Twelve recruits with stress fractures of the tibia or femur confirmed by imaging were classified as the SF group. Since the mechanism for developing stress fractures in the metatarsals is fatigue and not remodeling, as in the long bones [27], we focused only on stress fractures of long bones.

Statistical analysis Data analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software version 15.1 (SPSS INC., Chicago, IL). Comparisons between study groups over the time points, and at each phase were performed using repeated measures ANOVA (groups and time; α < 0.05) followed by pairwise comparisons using Student's t-test with adjustments for multiple comparisons by Tukey-Kramer. Thalidomide Analysis of the nutritional data produced descriptive statistics including mean, standard deviation, standard error, and range. Results Out of the seventy four recruits who completed all data collection during the 6-month training program, twelve recruits were diagnosed with stress fractures of the long bones (tibia and femur) by imaging during the 6-months. The results of the measured variables (i.e., anthropometry, nutritional consumption, and hematology) are presented for a total of 74 soldiers: 12 SF recruits vs. the 62 NSF recruits. Anthropometric measurements On induction, body weight was not significantly different between the SF and the NSF groups (68.1 ± 4.5 and 71.5 ± 6.8 kg, respectively) but the two groups’ body weight did differ significantly (p < 0.05) at the end of BT (68.6 ± 4.7 and 72.6 ± 6.2 kg, respectively). No significant statistical differences were evident among the rest of the anthropometric measurements (height, body fat percentage, BMI) between the two study groups.