air. In the case of the Marauders, whose diet consisted of 80% K-rations, severe weight loss (an average of per man) and vitamin deficiency were noted, which may have also contributed to a decline in resistance to various tropical diseases. A British medical officer reported that, of 209 Chindits examined at the end of this time, 182 had lost up to and 27 had lost from . Deficiency diseases such as pellagra and beriberi were diagnosed. One of British General Orde Wingate's units in the Dehra Dun area was visited by quartermaster logistics officers some months after they had last eaten K-rations. At the sight of a box of K-rations carried by the visitors, two of Wingate's men vomited. The unpalatable nature of some of the K-ration's components, such as the fatty pork loaf or the highly acidic lemon powder, caused many users to throw them away, further reducing actual consumed calorific content. Often, a secondary food source was issued, such as a D-ration bar, or fresh oranges, in an attempt to bring up the calorie and vitamin content. In 1943, a ration board headed by the chief of the Nutrition Branch, Office of the Chief Surgeon, was appointed and directed to conduct comprehensive field tests on rations which would be used later in combat. In the first of these field tests it was noted that troops remained in reasonably good physical condition during a 10-day period on C, K, and five-in-one rations but that the rations were deficient in calories, especially for large men. The report listed the following recommendations: The use of the D ration as a supplement only; the further restriction of the use of C and K-rations to five-day periods unless supplemented; and the replacement of the wholly unsatisfactory dextrose and malted tablets of the K-ration with a more acceptable substitute. Additionally, replacement of the fruit powder component of C- and K-rations with a source of ascorbic acid that would guarantee the utilization of this nutrient was recommended, as the current diet of troops operating on individual rations in the field was almost wholly devoid of ascorbic acid. By war's end, millions of K-rations had been produced, but the army had lost interest in them. Postwar Army supply plans for field rations relied solely on heavier canned wet rations, initially the C-ration, later by similar canned rations such as the Meal, Combat, Individual (MCI), primarily to