Jan 23, 2024 12:15 AM
(This post was last modified: Jan 23, 2024 01:04 AM by C C.)
Salad in space? New study says it's not a healthy choice
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1031964
INTRO: Lettuce and other leafy green vegetables are part of a healthy, balanced diet — even for astronauts on a mission.
It’s been more than three years since the National Aeronautics and Space Administration made space-grown lettuce an item on the menu for astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Alongside their space diet staples of flour tortillas and powdered coffee, astronauts can munch on a salad, grown from control chambers aboard the ISS that account for the ideal temperature, amount of water and light that plants need to mature.
But there is a problem. The International Space Station has a lot of pathogenic bacteria and fungi. Many of these disease-causing microbes at the ISS are very aggressive and can easily colonize the tissue of lettuce and other plants. Once people eat lettuce that’s been overrun by E. coli or Salmonella, they can get sick.
With billions of dollars poured into space exploration each year by NASA and private companies like SpaceX, some researchers are concerned that a foodborne illness outbreak aboard the International Space Station could derail a mission.
In new research published in Scientific Reports and in npj Microgravity, University of Delaware researchers grew lettuce under conditions that imitated the weightless environment aboard the International Space Station. Plants are masters of sensing gravity, and they use roots to find it. The plants grown at UD were exposed to simulated microgravity by rotation. The researchers found those plants under the manufactured microgravity were actually more prone to infections from a human pathogen, Salmonella... (MORE - details)
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1031964
INTRO: Lettuce and other leafy green vegetables are part of a healthy, balanced diet — even for astronauts on a mission.
It’s been more than three years since the National Aeronautics and Space Administration made space-grown lettuce an item on the menu for astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Alongside their space diet staples of flour tortillas and powdered coffee, astronauts can munch on a salad, grown from control chambers aboard the ISS that account for the ideal temperature, amount of water and light that plants need to mature.
But there is a problem. The International Space Station has a lot of pathogenic bacteria and fungi. Many of these disease-causing microbes at the ISS are very aggressive and can easily colonize the tissue of lettuce and other plants. Once people eat lettuce that’s been overrun by E. coli or Salmonella, they can get sick.
With billions of dollars poured into space exploration each year by NASA and private companies like SpaceX, some researchers are concerned that a foodborne illness outbreak aboard the International Space Station could derail a mission.
In new research published in Scientific Reports and in npj Microgravity, University of Delaware researchers grew lettuce under conditions that imitated the weightless environment aboard the International Space Station. Plants are masters of sensing gravity, and they use roots to find it. The plants grown at UD were exposed to simulated microgravity by rotation. The researchers found those plants under the manufactured microgravity were actually more prone to infections from a human pathogen, Salmonella... (MORE - details)