OPINION:
Ever read about the story of the African San chasing down an antelope on the savannah 50,000 or 100,000 years ago? He was barefoot — no Nikes and no hydration pack filled with Gatorade, and he probably had not eaten since his last kill. Plus, it was midday, with 120-degree heat — because if he’d done it at night he’d have been eaten by a lion.
If you think our health as a species had improved since those days (at least in terms of our strength and stamina), you would be wrong. The decline, in fact is unbelievable and this fact is reflected in the military, along with the physical condition of the youth in our schools and the level of chronic disease in the general population (“Obesity: The latest national-security crisis,” Web, Feb. 26).
The story of the San chasing an antelope was told by Tim Noakes, a prominent South African scientist, who spent 20 years exposing the fraud propagated by the sports-drink industry, which is this: If you wait to drink until you are thirsty, it is too late. Unfortunately if you did what was prescribed by the sports-food and -drink industry, you would end up with hyponatremic encephalopathy, and die. This happened repeatedly in well-known marathons and even in the basic training provided by the U.S. Army in the ’90s.
The military has to wake up to the fact that it has been fed junk science about food and nutrition. Any soldier that cannot go five days without food (but with a minimum amount of water) and stay at peak performance ought to find another profession. Otherwise they will be eaten by the lion.
SAMUEL BURKEEN
Reston, Va.
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