Does the spacecraft environment influence astronauts’ food or dietary supplement intake?
Does the spacecraft environment influence astronauts’ intake of food or dietary supplements?
The intention to send a crewed mission to Mars involves an enormous amount of planning to ensure a safe and successful mission.
Providing adequate amounts of food and dietary supplements for the crew is a daunting task, but 20 years of feeding astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) have produced a good knowledge base.
A crucial observation from the ISS is that astronauts typically consume only 80% of their daily caloric needs when in space.
And this despite the fact that daily exercise regimens keep energy expenditure at levels very similar to those on Earth.
This calorie deficit appears to have little effect on astronauts who spend up to 12 months on the ISS, but since a mission to Mars would take 30 to 36 months to complete, there are concerns that a calorie deficit during that time could have negative effects. adverse. . .in crew members
The key question is why astronauts stop eating when they have a supply of food and dietary supplements designed to fully meet their nutritional needs. This review focuses on evidence from astronauts that food tastes different in space than it does on Earth. The underlying hypothesis is that conditions in space can change the perceived taste of food, and this change in taste can, in turn, lead to underconsumption by astronauts.
The main areas investigated in this review for their potential impact on food intake are the effects of stability of food and food supplements, physiological changes, noise, air and water quality on the taste perception of food. food, as well as the relationship between food taste and food intake.