Science Helps Make 'Space Food' More Appealing

WEDNESDAY, July 17, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Astronauts report that food tends to taste bland in space, making it difficult for them to eat enough to stay healthy.

Focusing on the smell of food can help overcome this problem, according to a new study.

Smell plays a big role in how food tastes, and researchers have found that some odors can be more potent in the close confines of a spacecraft.

The researchers found that the scent of vanilla and almonds was more intense when study participants wore virtual reality goggles that simulated the confined environment of the International Space Station.

On the other hand, the lemon scent was perceived as always, according to the results.

The researchers concluded that these findings suggest that the isolation and loneliness of space travel may play a role in astronauts' lack of appetite.

The virtual reality experience “goes a long way toward simulating the experience of being on the space station,” said researcher Gail Ellis, an associate professor at RMIT University in Australia. “It really changes the way you smell things and how you taste them.”

Despite carefully designed diet plans, astronauts do not eat enough food during their flights, the researchers noted.

“What we’re going to see in the future with Artemis missions are much longer missions, years in length, especially when we go to Mars, so we really need to understand the issues around diet and food, and how the crew interacts with their food,” Eales said in a university news release.

Until now, the astronauts' lack of appetite has been attributed to weightlessness, the researchers noted in their seminal observations.

Weightlessness causes fluids to move to the upper parts of the body, leading to facial swelling and nasal congestion, which affects the senses of taste and smell, the researchers said.

Normally, these symptoms start to go away within a few weeks on the space station, but “the astronauts still didn’t enjoy their food even after the effects of the fluid change had worn off, suggesting something else was going on,” said lead researcher Julia Lo, a senior lecturer at RMIT.

To conduct the study, the researchers asked 54 adults to wear virtual reality goggles that simulated being on the space station. They were then exposed to different food smells.

A particular chemical in the scent of vanilla and almonds, called benzaldehyde, could explain this change in olfactory perception in people during spatial simulation.

“We think it's this sweet smell that gives that very strong smell in the virtual reality environment,” said researcher Jayani Chandrapala, an associate professor at RMIT.

The findings, published July 16 in the International Journal of Food Science and Technology, could help produce more delicious foods for people in space, Lu said.

“One of the long-term goals of the research is to make foods more suitable for astronauts, as well as other people living in isolated environments, to increase their nutritional intake to nearly 100 percent,” Lu said.

The researchers added that these findings could also help increase the appetite of people living on Earth who struggle to eat enough food.

“The results of this study could help personalize the diet of people living in socially isolated situations, including in nursing homes, and improve their nutritional intake,” Lu said.

more information

NASA has more information about deep space food systems.

Source: RMIT University, Press Release, 16 July 2024