Analysis of Nutrition Knowledge and Healthy Habits within ROTC Cadets

Introduction: In pursuit of achieving and maintaining military readiness, Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) cadets must adhere to the standards of body composition and physical fitness respective to their service. Healthy habits such as adequate nutrition, sleep, and physical activity are essential for supporting these outcomes in service members, but evidence suggests that ROTC cadets may face challenges achieving optimal dietary intake and quality, in addition to having lower scores of nutrition knowledge, and are at increased risk of disordered eating. Methods: Sixty-eight cadets (85 percent male; mean age 19.1±1.1 years) from a southeastern university completed the Military Eating Behaviors Survey (MEB-S). This study reported descriptive statistics of the survey responses related to nutrition, physical activity, and sleep. Further correlations among nutrition knowledge, diet quality, frequency of meal consumption, physical activity and sleep were analyzed. Results: The mean HES-7 score was 16.9±6.6, indicating suboptimal diet quality. More than half the sample reported supplement use within the past 30 days. Average sleep duration was 6.9±2.1 hours per night, and vigorous physical activity reported 41.8 days out of the week for 1.5±0.9 hours while moderate activity reported an average 3.5±2.1 days a week for 1.3±1.0 hours. Nutrition knowledge scores (14.5±3.0) were not significantly correlated with diet quality, meal frequency, frequency of meal consumption, physical activity or sleep. Data reports a moderate statistically significant negative association between diet quality and hours of sleep (HES-5, Pearson’s r = -0.414, p < .001; HES-7, Pearson’s r = -0.389, p = .002; HES-9, Pearson’s r = -0.449, p < .001). Conclusions: These findings suggest that ROTC cadets exhibit generally poor diet quality and high supplement use. This sample reported an average nutrition knowledge, although they had formal nutrition education provided. However, analysis suggests nutrition knowledge alone may not predict healthier eating patterns. Multifaceted interventions addressing environmental and behavioral factors may better support cadet readiness and performance.