Ever since man first walked on the moon, humans have set their sights on the next big challenge: a mission to Mars.
While presumably countless challenges face space agencies in getting there, at least one revolves around food.
Calorie deficits
According to findings from life onboard the International Space Station (ISS), astronauts typically consume only 80% of their daily calorie requirements when in space.
While this calorie deficit is not of serious concern for astronauts who spend up to 12 months aboard the ISS, it does present risks for longer missions. A mission to Mars, for example, is expected to take 30-36 months to complete.
“As the prospect of long-distance space flight looms in the not-too-distant future, the importance of ensuring that astronauts maintain a healthy diet becomes an increasingly important issue,” explained Charles Spence, an experimental psychologist at the University of Oxford.
“However, while much work has gone into providing nutritionally sufficient meals for astronauts, a recurring problem is that many astronauts do not consume sufficient food while in space and hence tend to lose weight as a result. While this doesn’t matter too much for short missions, there is a great deal of concern about what this might mean for astronauts on a multi-year mission (e.g., to Mars and back).”
Does food really taste different in space?
The European Space Agency therefore commissioned a research report from a group of international experts working in flavour perception and the chemical senses to assess why this might be happening – and whether ‘poor taste’ might be a key factor leading to under-consumption, Spence told FoodNavigator.
The team of experts included representatives from Swiss flavour and taste company Firmenich, UK flavour solutions provider Flavormetrix, and numerous universities and research institutes across the UK, Germany, France, Belgium, and Italy.
Spence, who co-authored the peer-reviewed research report, noted that funnily enough, astronauts do not seem to complain about the taste of food in space. “At least, not in a way that would obviously explain the reduced consumption that time and time again has been reported,” he continued.
“The one complaint that does crop up time and again is the lack of perceived ‘freshness’ of the food.”
The report concludes that there are likely a number of factors responsible for the change in taste and experience of food and drink in space.
Airflow, background noise, stress levels
According to the findings, one of the major problems is that the lack of gravity in space means more blood tends to flow into the head than is normally the case here on the ground, Spence explained. “This can lead to swelling that can block or else seriously reduce the amount of air that can flow through the nasal passage.
“The importance of this constriction becomes clear when it is realised that 75-95% of what we think we taste really comes from the volatile-rich aromatic air that is pulsed out of the back of the nose when we swallow. This is what is known as retronasal olfaction – contrasting with the orthonasal sense of smell when we sniff.”
The experimental psychologist also drew our attention to the dry air present aboard the ISS – much like that present on an aeroplane. “That may also impair the perception of aroma/flavour too, as it has been shown to do for aeroplane passengers.”
Beyond airflow in the nasal passage and dry air, astronauts on the ISS also have to put up with constant background noise. While this is typically lower than the 80-85 dB of engine noise that passengers have to contend with in a commercial aeroplane, the background noise on the ISS may still exert a significant masking effect.
“One of the other things to note,” Spence elaborated, “is that while we typically eat while seated down here on Earth, eating takes place in rather a different posture up in space, and this may influence the tasting experience more than we realise.”
The possible build-up of trace amounts of volatile compounds in the air/water supply, given the repeated recycling of both, should also be considered. As well as the fact that the foods are rehydrated.
“Other factors that might be relevant are that stress levels are likely to be higher and this has been shown to influence how food tastes,” Spence told this publication. “There is also a sense that normal diurnal and seasonal rhythms are muted in space, and I can’t help wondering if this might not also have some impact,” he added.
How should food makers respond?
Given these findings, how can manufacturers help make food more appealing for astronauts in space?
According to Spence, the answer does not lie in the development of a magic pill formula. “The one place where you might imagine that a meal in a pill would be useful is in space. [However, the astronauts] say that you can mess with anything, but not the food.”
The experimental psychologist puts this down to the ritual of mealtimes, which offer crew members an ‘important opportunity’ for social interaction. They can also provide a nostalgic or comforting link back to Earth, which Spence said ‘can seem like an increasingly distant memory, the longer the mission’.
“I think that the importance of psychological factors relating to foods undoubtedly becomes much more important in space.”
Making food more sensorially appealing could be one way to help avoid calorie deficits in astronauts. Drawing on the analogy between the loss of chemical senses with ageing and the reduced olfactory component due to swollen nasal passages in space flight, Spence suggested we look to ‘other channels’. This could include making foods more tempting by adding ‘a little oral pungency or spice’, he said.
The co-author has been especially interested in how to convey a sense of ‘freshness’, he revealed, “which is likely to be as much psychological as anything else”.
“One can think of freshly-made, simply garnished [food] with some space-grown microgreens. Or perhaps of how the noisier food – be it fresh produce like fruit and veg, or dry and baked goods – we tend to associated with freshness.”
Spence noted that some interesting work has been undertaken to determine whether letting the astronauts decide how to combine their meal components, or to specify what will be on the menu each day, makes a difference to their overall calorie intake.
“Perhaps unsurprisingly, giving people choice and some degree of control over what they eat tends to increase liking.”
The experimental psychologist continued: “Studying food and drink in space highlights, at least for me, how much of our relationship with, and experience of, food and drink is psychological/social. And this is something that food manufacturers here on the ground would do well not to overlook.”
Source: Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety ‘Factors affecting flavor perception in space: Does the spacecraft environment influence food intake by astronauts?’ DOI: 10.1111/1541-4337.12633 Authors: Andrew J. Taylor, Jonathan D. Beauchamp, Loic Briand, Martina Heer, Thomas Hummel, Christian Margot, Scott McGrane, Serge Pieters, Paola Pittia, Charles Spence.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
