New research suggests that a high-calorie, high-protein diet may improve the outcome for some service members with brain injuries due to battlefield explosions

The Pentagon spends billions of dollars trying to detect and avoid improvised explosive devices in Iraq and Afghanistan, but traumatic brain injuries (TBI) have become an expensive and troubling legacy of the wars - responsible for a variety of injuries and long-term problems for military service members. An Institute of Medicine report says that improvements in nutrition may offer benefits just after a blast injury and calls for immediate changes. The committee strongly supports the provision of energy and protein to patients with severe TBI early after injury. They advise that this important recommendation be implemented immediately and say it will achieve significant positive outcomes by reducing the inflammatory response, which is likely to be at its height during the first two weeks after the injury. The report calls for more research on the beneficial effects of other nutrients and suggests that a different diet before an injury also may have benefits.