SPACE and Nutrients
The latest find on Mars is showing adequate nutrients similar to those on Earth growing asparagus, but nutrients consumed by astronauts while in space is even more newsworthy. Nothing new, as nutrition for the body’s health is highly critical for a long time with its importance in space exploration—both short and long-term—no different. The body’s systems require optimal nutrition, with astronauts being affected by space flight in addition to the nutritional needs caused by space flights.
The parts of the body most affected are the cardiovascular systems, muscles, immune system, bone– combined with a need for protection against radiation damage. To prevent any damage to these areas, astronauts need to be healthy before, during and after their space flights. Requiring an extreme adequacy of the food system, NASA needs to define proper nutritional requirements for its many space travelers.
To obtain this on an overall level, specific divisions of the space agency develop and test different types of nutrition and their counter measures for the effects of space flight, while assessing the impact of other influences, such as exercise and pharmaceuticals. When astronauts experience weightlessness in space, they experience many nutritional deficiencies and health issues, according to a 2005 study at the Keio University School of Medicine in Tokyo, Japan, by J. Iwamoto, T. Takeda, and Y. Sato, entitled, “Interventions to prevent bone loss in astronauts during space flight”.
The study found that losses occurred in calcium, Vitamin D, and Vitamin K, along with urinary calcium excretion in an increased level, decreased intestinal calcium absorption, increased serum calcium level, and decreased levels of serum parathyroid hormone and calcitriol. They also found that an increase in bone resorption, causing a decrease of bone formation. The vitamin D level is affected so strongly that even when Vitamin D supplements are taken, the astronaut’s levels are still altered during space flight. An important nutrition, it is important for the proper calcium absorption and other tissue benefits.
Another big nutrient being studied today is the Omega-3 fatty acid, protector against radiation-induced cancer of astronauts, while also implicated in the mitigation of cachexia caused by cancer, similar to the mechanism of muscle loss during space flight. It also has been found to show protective effects on bone and cardiovascular function. On a more general level, Omega-3 is being tested for bipolar and has been proven as a 38% successful primary reduction of age-related macular degeneration of 38,974 case studies. A very recent study of 109 infants showed that when Omega-3 is taken in the last of the mother’s pregnancy months, an infant’s sensory, cognitive, and motor development will increase substantially.
This entry was posted on Monday, June 30th, 2008 at 3:58 pm and is filed under Space Agency News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
