If you don't get the hype about space exploration, you are reading the right article! Who cares about it anyway? The astronauts on the International Space Station are even fewer than the "holistic coaches' with actual nutritional knowledge, and our Earth problems are growing faster than my frustration with people who promote fad diets.
If only space activities were connected with Earth..!
Well, I have good news: space exploration and the solutions to earth problems are linked, and we are not wasting billions of tax-payers' money just to feed our vanity. Truth is we use space products or their spinoffs every day, and I am thankful to Space Is For You for providing an entire database as proof. And that's only the beginning - there are many more things yet to be researched that we are going to be using in the future. I can't tell you how excited I am that my specialty, food, is going to be among them.
Food Production Systems
We are all aware (I truly hope) of how tragically unsustainable the current food production system is. Another word I would use to describe it would be "inefficient", considering the hundreds of millions of people dealing with chronic food insecurity. Earth is in direct need of a food production system that can produce safe and nutritious food, with the minimum input, and with high recycling efficiency. And astronauts will need exactly the same - resources in space are not exactly in abundance, thus there is no other choice but the environmentally sustainable one.
Nutritional Issues
Osteoporosis is a problem for hundreds of millions of people worldwide, as is vitamin D deficiency. Astronauts not only experience osteoporosis, they experience an accelerated version of it. Vitamin D deficiency can get quite aggressive too, since exposure to sunlight is actively avoided - the atmosphere does not protect one from UV radiation at this height. The data collected on mechanisms and countermeasure efficiency can help us develop treatments for everyone affected.
If you're not convinced yet, I have two more examples. Space, acting as a trigger, has helped us uncover specific genetic makeups that result in higher vitamin B needs. Humans travelling to space are also inevitably exposed to radiation, and that gives us the chance to observe DNA damage and the role of antioxidants and the diet in general. A number of various chronic diseases have been connected to DNA damage oxidative stress, often the result of diet, lifestyle, and environmental pollution, thus a challenge to monitor on Earth. Space really does accelerate human physiology research!
The Food Itself
Not any food can be space food. Besides nutritious, space food also has to be easy to prepare and to eat, it has to be easy to store even outside of a fridge, light-weight, and with as little packaging as possible. It's addressed to humans on a physically and mentally demanding mission, with limited time, no facilities, and high energy requirements. Just like mountaineers. Just like soldiers. Just like rescuers. Just like victims of natural disasters. Better astronaut food means better food for all these groups.
And let's not forget that calamity can occur anywhere, and anyone can rush to help. The more our research progresses, the more dishes we can include in the menus 'for extreme conditions', and the more people we can make feel included and seen. Traditions and ideologies should not be sacrificed. Reactions to allergies and intolerances should not be entertained. A positive eating experience should not be neglected, not even when disaster strikes.
Space food is not alien food. It's food for humans in extreme conditions, just like so many of us.
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