Nutrition and Health

Assure that astronaut diets are adequate in all nutrients for the duration of each mission .

Maintaining the potency of essential nutrients in foods flown on spacecraft is critical for crew health and safety.  By definition, humans are not able to synthesize essential nutrients in the body and thus depend 100% on an adequate supply in the diet.  It is well documented, on Earth, that food processing and long-term storage can diminish, and in some cases obliterate, nutrient efficacy.  It is unknown what the effects are of current processing techniques used by NASA (thermostabilization, dehydration, and irradiation).  The goal of our Team is to document nutrient potency of space foods as eaten in space, so that we can be assured that when astronaut diets are designed to deliver  appropriate nutrients the nutrients are actually in the foods.

Develop an understanding of nutrient requirements in space that is sufficient to appropriately design diets to meet those nutrient requirements. Nutrient requirements in space are not the same as those on Earth.  Without knowledge of the differences in requirements in space vs. on Earth, it is impossible to design diets that meet nutritional needs for astronauts.  Data pertaining to nutrient requirements in space are extremely limited.  Despite this, several  deficiencies/insufficiencies are consistently reported.  These deficiencies include inadequate energy intake, depressed vitamin D, K and folate status, and diminished antioxidant capacity.