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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2020

Nutritional Requirements for Exploration Missions up to 365 Days

Crew nutritional requirements described here are aimed at supporting optimal crew performance during extended-duration (<365 d) exploration missions, including planned Orion and Gateway missions. The requirements for specific nutrients (on a per-day basis) are included here, as are recommendations for foods and food types. Additionally, requirements are delineated for nutritional assessment, including monitor of dietary intake, and nutritional requirements for specific tasks (e.g., extravehicular activity).

Scott M Smith↗
NASA NTRS2005

Nutrition Requirements, Standards, and Operating Bands for Exploration Missions

The challenge was brought forward in early 2005 to define the nutritional requirements for Exploration missions, and to define the relevant standards and associated operating bands related to nutrition. This document is the result of this charge. An extensive review of existing knowledge was conducted with participation of intramural and extramural experts, and the findings are summarized herein. In short, the approach taken was to define the nutrient intake requirements, that is, the amount of each nutrient expected to be available in the food system. The standards are defined as markers of nutritional status, with optimal (green), sub-optimal (yellow), and critical (red) levels for each. For many of the nutrient requirements, it is not known if they are altered during space flight. Furthermore, in many cases the intake of a nutrient may act as a countermeasure to one or more negative effects of space flight, but these potential countermeasures, too, are not well defined. Thus, we have also documented herein the areas where further research is required. Accordingly, while this document is intended as a comprehensive summary of our knowledge to date, it is expected that this is the first edition of these requirements and standards. As we learn more about space-flight nutrition, and as relationships between disease and nutrients are further defined in Earth-based populations, this document, and the approach to nutrition in the space rogram, will need to be updated accordingly.

Neubek, Deborah J.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Nutritional Requirements for Space Station Freedom Crews

The purpose of this report was to set preliminary nutritional requirements for crewmembers flying from 90 to 180 day missions on Space Station Freedom. Specific recommendations included providing crewmembers with in flight feedback on nutritional intake, weight and strength, and incorporating issues of energy intake, body weight, body composition, strength, and protein intake in the flight medicine program. Exercise must be considered an integral part of any plan to maintain nutritional status, especially those modes that stress the skeleton and maintain body weight. Nutrient intake, amount of exercise, and drugs ingested must be recorded daily; high priority should be given to development of fully automated record systems that minimize astronauts' effort. A system of nutritional supplements should be developed to provide a method for reducing intake deficits that become apparent. Finally, post flight monitoring should include bone density, muscle mass and function, and iron status at three and six months after landing.

Lane, Helen W.↗
NASA NTRS1987

The determination of nutritional requirements for Safe Haven Food Supply System (emergency/survival foods)

The Space Station Safe Haven Food System must sustain 8 crew members under emergency conditions for 45 days. Emergency Survival Foods are defined as a nutritionally balanced collection of high density food and beverages selected to provide for the survival of Space Station flight crews in contingency situations. Since storage volume is limited, the foods should be highly concentrated. A careful study of different research findings regarding starvation and calorie restricted diets indicates that a minimum nutritional need close to RDA is an important factor for sustaining an individual's life in a stressful environment. Fat, protein, and carbohydrates are 3 energy producing nutrients which play a vital role in the growth and maintenance process of human life. A lower intake of protein can minimize the water intake, but it causes a negative nitrogen balance and a lower performance level. Other macro and micro nutrients are also required for nutritional interrelationships to metabolize the other 3 nutrients to their optimum level. The various options for longer duration than 45 days are under investigation.

Ahmed, Selina↗
NASA NTRS2002

History of Nutrition in Space Flight: Overview

Major accomplishments in nutritional sciences for support of human space travel have occurred over the past 40 y. This article reviews these accomplishments, beginning with the early Gemini program and continuing through the impressive results from the first space station Skylab program that focused on life sciences research, the Russian contributions through the Mir space station, the US Shuttle life sciences research, and the emerging International Space Station missions. Nutrition is affected by environmental conditions such as radiation, temperature, and atmospheric pressures, and these are reviewed. Nutrition with respect to space flight is closely interconnected with other life sciences research disciplines including the study of hematology, immunology, as well as neurosensory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, circadian rhythms, and musculoskeletal physiology. These relationships are reviewed in reference to the overall history of nutritional science in human space flight. Cumulative nutritional research over the past four decades has resulted in the current nutritional requirements for astronauts. Space-flight nutritional recommendations are presented along with the critical path road map that outlines the research needed for future development of nutritional requirements.

Circadian rhythms↗
NASA NTRS2006

Nutrition in Space: Benefits on Earth

History has often proven the criticality for adequate nutrition to ensure expedition success. Space exploration will be no different, with the exception of the certainty that food will not be found along the journey. Ensuring the health and safety of astronauts is critical and nutrition will serve several functions to that end. Nutritional assessment of International Space Station (ISS) crewmembers not only serves to evaluate the nutritional health of individuals, but also allows a better understanding of how space flight affects nutritional requirements, and how nutrition can serve in mitigating the negative effects of weightlessness on the human. Available data suggest that the nutritional status of astronauts is compromised during and after flight. Inadequate dietary intake and subsequent weight loss are often considered hallmarks of space flight, although exceptions to this do exist, and provide hope. However, beyond energy intake, specific nutrient issues also exist. Several vitamins, including D and folate, are affected in space travelers. Hematological and antioxidant defense systems are impacted, with increased iron storage, and increased markers of oxidative damage. Bone loss during space flight remains a critical challenge. Ground-based studies have proven that nutrition is a potent modulator of the bone response to simulated weightlessness. Protein and sodium are two nutrients which tend to exacerbate bone resorption and loss, likely mediated through acid base balance. Defining nutrient requirements, and being able to provide and maintain those nutrients on exploration missions, will be critical for maintaining crew member health. Both flight and ground-based research provide a unique situation, one where healthy individuals are put in a unique and challenging environment. A full understanding of the role of nutrition during space flight will not only enhance crew health and safety during flight, but will also expand our understanding of the role of nutrition in health of those remaining on Earth.

Smith, Scott M.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Nutrition in space

The authors review studies conducted to define nutritional requirements for astronauts during space flight and to assess nutrition before, during, and after space flight. Topics include space food systems, research and limitations on spacecraft, physiological adaptation to weightlessness, energy requirements, dietary intake during space flight, bone demineralization, gastrointestinal function, blood volume, and nutrition requirements for space flight. Benefits of space-related nutrition research are highlighted.

Review↗
NASA NTRS2000

Shuttle and ISS Food Systems Management

Russia and the U.S. provide the current International Space Station (ISS) food system. Each country contributes half of the food supply in their respective flight food packaging. All of the packaged flight food is stowed in Russian provided containers, which interface with the Service Module galley. Each country accepts the other's flight worthiness inspections and qualifications. Some of the food for the first ISS crew was launched to ISS inside the Service Module in July of 2000, and STS-106 in September 2000 delivered more food to the ISS. All subsequent food deliveries will be made by Progress, the Russian re-supply vehicle. The U.S. will ship their portion of food to Moscow for loading onto the Progress. Delivery schedules vary, but the goal is to maintain at least a 45-day supply onboard ISS at all times. The shelf life for ISS food must be at least one year, in order to accommodate the long delivery cycle and onboard storage. Preservation techniques utilized in the US food system include dehydration, thermo stabilization, intermediate moisture, and irradiation. Additional fresh fruits and vegetables will be sent with each Progress and Shuttle flights as permitted by volume allotments. There is limited refrigeration available on the Service Module to store fresh fruits and vegetables. Astronauts and cosmonauts eat half U.S. and half Russian food. Menu planning begins 1 year before a planned launch. The flight crews taste food in the U.S. and in Russia and rate the acceptability. A preliminary menu is planned, based on these ratings and the nutritional requirements. The preliminary menu is then evaluated by the crews while training in Russia. Inputs from this evaluation are used to finalize the menu and flight packaging is initiated. Flight food is delivered 6 weeks before launch. The current challenge for the food system is meeting the nutritional requirements, especially no more than 10 mg iron, and 3500 mg sodium. Experience from Shuttle[Mir also indicated insufficient caloric intake for many crewmembers. Additional thermostabilized and irradiated foods have been developed for ISS to improve the ease of preparation and overall acceptability. Dehydrated foods offer limited advantage, since water must be delivered to ISS. An effort is underway to introduce other International Partner's food into the ISS food system. At first this will be one or two selected foods with the potential for more as the program matures. An increase in the variety of available foods would improve the overall acceptability. Additional galley capability will be required when the crew size increases on ISS. Anticipated improvements include freezers, refrigerators and microwave ovens. All of the ISS food development efforts are devoted to improving the food acceptability and subsequent consumption and mission success

Kloeris, Vickie↗
NASA NTRS1986

Studies on maximum yield of wheat for the controlled environments of space

The economic feasibility of using food-producing crop plants in a closed ecological Life-Support System (CELSS) will ultimately depend on the energy and area (or volume) required to provide the nutritional requirements for each person. Energy and area requirements are, to some extent, inversely related; that is, an increased energy input results in a decreased area requirement and vice versa. A major goal of the research effort was to determine the controlled-environment good-production efficiency of wheat per unit area, per unit time, and per unit energy input.

Bugbee, B. G.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Bioastronautics: optimizing human performance through research and medical innovations

A strategic use of resources is essential to achieving long-duration space travel and understanding the human physiological changes in space, including the roles of food and nutrition in space. To effectively address the challenges of space flight, the Bioastronautics Initiative, undertaken in 2001, expands extramural collaboration and leverages unique capabilities of the scientific community and the federal government, all the while applying this integrated knowledge to Earth-based problems. Integral to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's missions in space is the reduction of risk of medical complications, particularly during missions of long duration. Cumulative medical experience and research provide the ability to develop evidence-based medicine for prevention, countermeasures, and treatment modalities for space flight. The early approach applied terrestrial clinical judgment to predict medical problems in space. Space medicine has evolved to an evidence-based approach with the use of biomedical data gathered and lessons learned from previous space flight missions to systematically aid in decision making. This approach led, for example, to the determination of preliminary nutritional requirements for space flight, and it aids in the development of nutrition itself as a countermeasure to support nutritional mitigation of adaptation to space.

Nutritional Requirements↗
NASA NTRS2014

Suited Contingency Ops Food - 2

The contingency scenario for an emergency cabin depressurization event may require crewmembers to subsist in a pressurized suit for up to 144 hours. This scenario requires the capability for safe nutrition delivery through a helmet feed port against a 4 psi pressure differential to enable crewmembers to maintain strength and cognition to perform critical tasks. Two nutritional delivery prototypes were developed and analyzed for compatibility with the helmet feed port interface and for operational effectiveness against the pressure differential. The bag-in-bag (BiB) prototype, designed to equalize the suit pressure with the beverage pouch and enable a crewmember to drink normally, delivered water successfully to three different subjects in suits pressurized to 4 psi. The Boa restrainer pouch, designed to provide mechanical leverage to overcome the pressure differential, did not operate sufficiently. Guidelines were developed and compiled for contingency beverages that provide macro-nutritional requirements, a minimum one-year shelf life, and compatibility with the delivery hardware. Evaluation results and food product parameters have the potential to be used to improve future prototype designs and develop complete nutritional beverages for contingency events. These feeding capabilities would have additional use on extended surface mission EVAs, where the current in-suit drinking device may be insufficient.

Glass, J. W.↗