Vitamins, Minerals, and Survival

Vitamins, Minerals, and Survival by Gary Benton
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A few years ago, when I had first entered the military, I had the chance to read a copy of a survival journal written by a man that was discovered dead by a rescue team. The rescue team had brought out all of his gear, and then turned the journal over to the Air Force. The Air Force had copied the journal and distributed it to various sections to assist in survival training. There were many lessons to be learned from the dead man’s situation. The key to his death or seemed to me anyway, was nutrition.

Most of us know little about nutrition because many of us are not very interested in the subject to start with. Generally, we have nutritious meals, or at least they are available, we take multi-vitamins, and we, as a country, may be a bit over weight. But, what do we as hunters, fishermen, campers, and backpackers know about survival nutrition? I suggest we know very little and may not even care much about the subject.

The man with the journal had died in World War II and was not discovered until sometime in the 1950’s. His journal was not printed and distributed until the early 1970’s. While less was known about nutrition during the writer’s lifetime, there were things known then could have saved his life. However, I think like most of us, he was neither interested nor very knowledgeable of the subject. In other words he was typical of many outdoorsmen and women.

The dead man’s aircraft had crash-landed on a frozen lake up north, Alaska perhaps. I can’t remember exactly where he went down and it is not very important where it happened because his situation could be relived in many states or countries. The things to keep in mind are that his crash site was remote and the actions that he took.

As I read his journal, I discovered a man with the guts and determination needed to survive. He was an experienced outdoorsman with years of hunting behind him. He had also been trained, to a small extent in survival, by the military. His journal showed a man of discipline as well as a deep will to survive. Then, you are most likely asking, why did he die?

His journal indicated that while there was no big game in the woods around the lake, it was heavily populated by rabbits. He wrote of eating rabbits regularly, and then as time passed, describing how he was losing weight. Eventually his writing stopped completely. His last entry, if I remember correctly, was of his confusion of starving to death as he ate rabbit after rabbit. I remember one old grizzled survival instructor who commented about the victim, “He starved to death on a full stomach.”

The instructor went on to say that the man might have survived; he had the guts do so, if he had only known more about nutrition. A rabbit is a lean critter, not much fat on them, and a man in a survival situation needs fat and oils. See, that man was only eating the lean flesh of the animal. He discarded the other parts that may have kept him alive. If he had eaten the contents of the rabbit’s stomach, which contains essentially green leafy grasses, (vitamins B, C, E), the rabbits eyes (which contain salt), along with the liver, heart, and kidneys (which contain vitamin A), as well as other vitamins, he might have made it. I suspect he just didn’t know about it or he didn’t like the idea of eating a critter’s innards. Keep in mind, in a prolong survival situation protein alone won’t keep you alive.

Over the years I have done a lot of thinking about what the man had written, reliving his fear of death, as well as what the sergeant had said. I have done a little research on nutrition and while I cannot even remotely claim to be an expert, I have found some basic facts we should all keep in mind about vitamins.

First, I suggest all of us carry a small container of good quality multivitamins in our survival kits. They are light and easy to carry. Keep them in the original bottle because it protects them from sunlight, which can decrease their effectiveness. It also keeps them dry. What are the basic essential vitamins for us if we are in a survival situation and do not have vitamins along? Many professionals and armchair survival experts may disagree, but I think this is the group of vitamins we should be concerned about.

Vitamin A, retinol. We get this vitamin from milk products, animal fat, carrots, and leafy green vegetables. Why do we need this vitamin? It helps keep your vision working well, your immune system up and working, and assists in the functioning of most major organs. Where do you find it? From animal fats, contents of the stomach from plant eating animals, wild green plants in the field.

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