Nutritional Status Assessment (Nutrition)
Research Area: Integrated Physiology and Nutrition
Expeditions: 14-ongoing
Principal Investigator(s): ● Scott M. Smith, PhD, Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
Nutritional Status Assessment (Nutrition) is a comprehensive in-flight study designed to
understand changes in the human body during long-duration spaceflight. This study includes
measures of bone metabolism, oxidative damage, chemistry and hormonal changes as well as
assessments of the nutritional status of the crew members participating in the study. The
results have an impact on the definition of nutritional requirements and development of food
systems for future exploration missions to the moon and Mars. This experiment also helps
researchers understand the effectiveness of measures taken to counteract the effects of
spaceflight, as well as the impact of exercise and medicine countermeasures on nutritional
status and nutrient requirements for crew members.
EARTH BENEFITS
Increased understanding of the role of nutrition in physiological adaptation to spaceflight has a
broader application on Earth. One example is that understanding the relationship of nutrition
to bone loss is potentially valuable for patients suffering from osteoporosis on Earth.
SPACE BENEFITS
The inclusion of in-flight blood and urine collections, and expansion to include additional
samplings to better monitor nutritional status, are required in order to better understand the
role of nutrition in bone health, changes in body composition, oxidative damage, and to better
define nutritional requirements for spaceflight. Maintaining and monitoring nutritional status is
important for ensuring crew health during spaceflight and is critical as we embark on
exploration missions of much longer duration in the future.
RESULTS
This experiment is ongoing; urine and blood samples for several crew members have been
collected before, during, and after ISS Expeditions. Since the experiment design calls for the
combination and comparative analysis of data from all Expeditions, final results are not yet
available. Preliminary results have been presented, reviewed, and published in multiple forums.
Operationally, the data have been valuable in troubleshooting the Urine Processing Assembly
(UPA) after the unit developed problems in orbit in 2009, and also in developing operational
plans for using this unit. Vitamin D results from spaceflight and ground-based analog studies led
to revised vitamin D supplementation recommendations on ISS, and the results of this
experiment have documented the effectiveness of this new dose. The ground-based findings
from Antarctic research were cited in the Institute of Medicine’s revision of the recommended
dietary intakes for North Americans.