Nutrient supply during recent European missions.

An inadequate nutrient intake during space flight may compromise the crewmembers' health status. In fact, during recent European missions (D-2, EuroMIR 94 and EuroMIR 95), monitoring of the astronauts' food intake revealed that they had a deficient energy, fluid, and calcium intake and an excessive sodium consumption compared to the dietary reference intakes for earthbound conditions. Inappropriate amounts of these nutrients have a considerable impact on body fluid regulation, the cardiovascular system and on calcium and bone metabolism, especially bone mineral density, which are all stressed by the microgravity environment. Provision of adequate nutrition especially when facing long-term space flights is therefore one of the foremost challenges. Therefore, for the German MIR 97 mission, we considered the data obtained from previous European missions to devise a constant and controlled nutrient intake that matched the earthbound dietary reference intake values in our experiments. Specific markers indicated that bone formation continually declined and bone resorption increased in the MIR 97 astronaut. This suggests that the nutritional criteria chosen for the subjects remaining on Earth may be inadequate for extended space missions. Therefore, more emphasis has to be placed on investigating the effects of a deficient nutrient intake on astronauts during exposure to microgravity, to manage their nutritional care appropriately during long-term missions.