Aviation Information

Do Jet Lag Diets Work?


Anti jet lag diets have been around for some time now, but do they work?

Perhaps the best know anti jet lag diet is the Argonne Diet, developed at the Argonne National Laboratory in 1982. Over the years thousands of people have downloaded copies of this diet online and it is reputed to have been used by an impressive list of people including the late President Ronald Regan, the US Secret Service, the CIA and the US Army and Navy. In addition, it is purported to have been used by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Canadian swim team.

However, when you realize that the only evidence to support the effectiveness of this diet is a study conducted by the US military, this list of 'supporters' doesn't perhaps seem quite so impressive.

On the surface the US military study does appear to support the effectiveness of the diet, although the report (published in 2002) pointed out a number of problems with the study and stated that "larger and better controlled studies need to be used to verify the usefulness of the Argonne diet".

Perhaps the biggest problem with this study however lies in the reasoning behind the study and in the group of people used for the study.

The US military deploy hundreds of thousands of troops around the world every year and jet lag has a significant effect upon their operations. Preventing jet lag is thus something of a priority issue. However, curing jet lag on this scale can also be a very expensive business and so looking for a simple, inexpensive, convenient and readily available solution, with few if any side-effects was essential. It is not perhaps surprising therefore that they focused their attention of the possibility of using a diet as nothing could be simpler, or cheaper, to implement. It also represented a natural solution, without any of the emotional or medical problems so often associated with the usual pills or injections.

Perhaps more significant though was the group chosen for the study. Volunteers were taken from 186 National Guard personnel being deployed to Korea. Of these, 95 used the diet on the outbound leg of the journey and 39 used the diet coming home.

Two questions seem to arise here.

The first question is whether or not results seen in a group of National Guard personnel could reasonably be expected to appear in the general traveling population. I think most people would agree that this can hardly be said to be a representative sample.

The second question is why only 39 people volunteered to try the diet on the return home when 95 people had used the diet on the outbound journey. Surely, if those using it for the deployment had found it effective then you would expect more than 41 percent of them to have wanted to use it again coming home.

These questions are of course important but perhaps the real question that we should be asking is why a diet should be effective at all as a jet lag cure.

Jet lag results from the inability of your body to adjust its own internal clock fast enough to bring it into line with local time when traveling. For example, when you arrive at your destination and the clock says it nine o'clock in the morning and time to start the day's work, your internal body clock may still be reading two o'clock in the morning (the time back home) and telling you that you should be in bed.

So just how is a diet supposed to help solve this little problem?

Well, the simple answer of course is that it can't. Yes, what you eat and drink can play a part in helping your body to overcome the effects of jet lag and can assist in reducing jet lag symptoms. Diet, however, is only one small element in the equation for solving the problems of jet lag and simply making some adjustment to what you eat and drink before, during and after your journey, along with other preventative measures, is all that is required.

Curing jet lag through the use of so-called anti jet lag diets is a nice idea, but, unfortunately, it's myth rather than reality.

Copyright 2005 Donald Saunders - http://help-me-to-sleep.com

Donald Saunders is the author of a number of health related publications including "Jet Lag - A Natural Approach". Learn more about jet lag and pick up your free copy of "How To Get A Good Night's Sleep" to discover the secret to curing insomnia.


MORE RESOURCES:

Turkish Press

General Dynamics' ratings, outlook not affected by Jet Aviation ...
Forbes, NY - Aug 20, 2008
... General Dynamics Corp. are not affected by its acquisition of Switzerland-based Jet Aviation for 2.45 billion Swiss francs from a private equity firm. ...
SVG quadruples investment on Jet Aviation sale Financial News
Business Flight Boom Drives Jet Aviation Sale Focus on Travel News
General Dynamics to Boost Gulfstream With Jet Aviation Purchase Washington Post
Financial Times - Motley Fool
all 396 news articles


Austin approves general aviation facility for ABIA
Bizjournals.com, NC - 1 hour ago
A California firm has been tapped to build a general aviation facility at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Austin City Council today approved a ...


Aerospace & Defense Leaders Tackle Complex Programs at the ...
IT News Online, India - 5 hours ago
21 /PRNewswire/ -- AVIATION WEEK will present its Aerospace & Defense (A&D) Programs Conference on November 13-14, 2008 at the Paradise Point Hotel in San ...


ABC News

Aviation inspector goofs and delays 40 American Eagle flights at O ...
Chicago Tribune, United States - 18 hours ago
By Jon Hilkevitch | Chicago Tribune reporter Update: A federal security inspector at O'Hare Airport was able to enter seven of the nine American Eagle ...
American Airlines Defends Its Security Practices Chicago Public Radio
ANN Special Report: TSA Memo Suggests That Agency 'Encourages ... Aero-News Network
TSA Fires Back: Blames Airline for 'Security Violation' ABC News
Chicago Tribune - Aero-News Network
all 64 news articles


PASS Endorses Barack Obama for President
MarketWatch - 4 hours ago
With a focus on matters that impact union members and aviation safety, such as privatization of the aviation system and supporting the workers who keep the ...


SHS lands contract for national aviation company
Bizjournals.com, NC - 8 minutes ago
Wichita's largest advertising firm had added a national aviation company to its list of clients. As West Star's marketing partner, SHS says it will work to ...


KCBS

Pilot dies when plane hits CHP building
San Jose Mercury News,  USA - 2 hours ago
... when his plane crashed into a California Highway Patrol truck scale building on Highway 101 in Gilroy, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said. ...
One dead in small plane crash in Gilroy KSBY
Wreckage of plane in fatal crash examined San Francisco Chronicle
GILROY: UPDATE: PILOT OF PLANE THAT CRASHED INTO CHP BUILDING ... CBS 5
United Press International - San Jose Mercury News
all 56 news articles


Pilot uninjured in crash Wednesday at Reno Stead Airport
Houston Chronicle, United States - 3 hours ago
A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration says the plane was approaching the airport at about 1:15 Wednesday afternoon when the engine quit and ...


John Menzies hurt by aviation unit’s start-up costs
Financial Times (subscription), UK - 1 hour ago
... and airport services group, saw profits drop 26 per cent for the half year after it incurred high start-up costs while expanding its aviation division. ...


Flight Options Names New Sales Director for the Southeast Region
MarketWatch - 44 minutes ago
Mr. Flint grew up in the aviation industry and has spent the last four years as a sales director with an aircraft manufacturer-owned fractional program. ...

Aviation - Google News

home | site map
Web Site Development - Search Engine Marketing: Dream Team Media