Sister blog of Physicists of the Caribbean in which I babble about non-astronomy stuff, because everyone needs a hobby

Tuesday, 16 October 2018

Astronauts can completely avoid bone loss through the correct diet

This analysis piece was commissioned by the BBC from experts working for an outside organisation. Dr Scott M Smith and Dr Sara R Zwart lead the Nutritional Biochemistry Laboratory at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

This part has nothing to do with the headline, but I found it more interesting :

Bone loss has long been one of the biggest concerns for space travellers. Astronauts tend to lose their bone mass at roughly 1% per month, the amount that osteoporosis sufferers lose in a year. The loss occurs because the body doesn't place gravity on the bones, and "decides" that you can get by with a smaller skeleton. On average it takes years for bone mass to recover after a mission.

After years of trial and error, several specific diet changes have been found to have a positive effect on bone health. Astronauts who had higher intake of fish like salmon and mackerel lost less bone while in orbit. We also found that diets with more fruits and vegetables were beneficial to bone strength. Conversely, large intakes of iron and sodium served to speed up bone loss.

Subsequent evidence showed that astronauts who ate well, had enough vitamin D, and exercised hard didn't suffer any bone loss during a six-month space mission. This was the first time in 50 years of human space flight that crew members had been able to maintain their bone density with nothing but diet and exercise. These findings also have direct implications for literally everyone on Earth, where the same diet changes could help keep our bones healthy.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-45735361

2 comments:

  1. So you're saying I could eat right and exercise or just eat lots of fish and not exercise?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes. That is definitely the only possible unavoidable conclusion. A scientist said it so it must be true.

    ReplyDelete

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