🖖 The prehistoric ingredient

Hunchbacks and broken bones.

That’s the future for our long-term space travellers.

Unless we can get them the right nutrients for the whole voyage.

Osteoporosis continues to be a looming challenge for space crews.

That’s when mineral density and bone mass decreases making your bones weak.

They break like coral tuiles.

Every month astronauts lose 1% of their bone mass. All because Earth’s gravity isn’t there to weigh down our skeletons like we’re used to.

It currently takes 8-9 months to get to Mars. So before they even begin their work, they’re already lost almost 10% of their bone mass.

Unless we can prevent it.

This diet mostly refers to calcium which is crucial for bones.

There are plenty of calcium sources to grow in indoor gardens. But there’s a component missing. Vitamin D.

Without Vitamin D, the body absorbs only 15% of dietary calcium and phosphorus.

With it that absorption rate jumps up to 40%.

How to get it

Vitamin D comes in two types: D₂ and D₃.

D₃

D₃ is a hormone that is produced in the body when exposed to sunlight.

The easiest way for us to get vitamin D₃ is to soak in some sunshine. But that’s how we get it here on Earth. Where an atmosphere deflects a good chunk of those ultraviolet (UV) rays that can reach us.

On the space station, windows are coated with UV protection because the effects are much stronger and more dangerous without that trusty atmosphere.

Same will be true on the Moon and Mars.

I’m not sure how feasible it would be to have a ‘sun room’ with ways to adjust the protection levels on the windows. That would allow astronauts to sunbathe for the required amount each day.

Could be cool.

There’s always UV lamps and tanning beds.

Though less fun.

D₂

D₂ comes from food. But they’re not ideal for space travel:

• Cod liver oil

• Salmon

• Swordfish

• Tuna fish

• Fortified orange juice

• Fortified dairy and plant milks

• Sardines

• Beef liver

• Egg yolk

• Fortified cereals

Animal products they could take with them when they first leave.

But when supplies are gone they’re gone. We need sources we can keep growing.

If we implement aquaponic gardens instead of aeroponic gardens there may be enough fish to maintain the system and for eating.

But that would be a big system.

Best hope

Some mushrooms have proven to be good sources.

Wild mushrooms with access to sunlight have shown increased amounts of Vitamin D₂ compared to those grown in the dark.

Mushrooms grow easily in an indoor setup. Plus I imagine UV lights would be part of the existing lighting systems for the garden modules.

Turns out the mushrooms will continue to produce Vitamin D₂ after harvest as long as they’re exposed to UV light.

The following mushrooms showed huge increases in Vitamin D₂ even after 15-20 seconds of UV exposure.

• Portobella

• Maitake

• Crimini

• Enoki

• Shiitake

• White Button

What to do

Go out and get yourself some mushrooms. Give them a little sunshine or UV love.

Put them on your menus. Tell your customers why.

Do our bones a favour.

How cool is it that an organism that has been on Earth for for 800 million years has the potential to help us live on other celestial bodies?

We evolved on this planet.

Our bones have only ever known this gravity.

It’s not going to be easy on the human body to adjust to living somewhere else.

Over a few generations we’ll have a new definition for human being.

Homo sapiens lunaris?

Homo sapiens martialis?

That future doesn’t happen unless we can keep our travellers healthy and strong enough to survive the journey.

Thanks, mushrooms.