Army Looking for Volunteers to Eat Only Packaged Rations for 3 Weeks

In this Aug. 13, 2013, photo, U.S. Navy Master-at-Arms Third Class Anna Schnatzmeyer, left, and Master-at-Arms Third Class Danielle Hinchliff, both of Coastal Riverine Squadron 2, eat their Meals Ready to Eat (MRE) as they participate in a U.S. Navy Riverine Crewman Course at the Center for Security Forces Learning Site at Camp Lejeune, N.C. AP Photo/Gerry Broome

The Army wants volunteers for a study aimed at improving the packaged rations troops rely on out in the field.

Researchers are particularly interested in adding nutrition, examining what the current MREs (meal, ready-to-eat) are lacking in that space.

The researchers also want to examine how the MREs affect the trillions of bacteria housed in soldiers’ digestive systems.

“There’s a lot of interesting and new research looking at gut bacteria, and how those gut bacteria interact with the human body,” study head Dr. J. Philip Karl told the Army Times, adding that an “explosion” in research technology over the last decade allows researchers to “really get an understanding that we never have before.”

Karl believes that tweaks to MRE recipes could also stave off other digestive threats.

In this Thursday, Feb. 6, 2014 photo, a slice of prototype pizza, in development to be used in MRE's — meals ready to eat, sits in a packet next to a smaller packet known as an oxygen scavenger, left, at the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2014, in Natick, Mass. AP Photo/Steven Senne