A journey into space to study the metabilism of man. During Matthias Maurer’s Cosmic Kiss mission, departing tomorrow 30 October, a team from the University of Trieste led by Gianni Biolo will monitor the metabolic activity of the German ESA astronaut during the 6 months of stay in orbit. The project is called Nutriss and it is the first study designed by the Trieste team to monitor muscle metabolism subjected to microgravity and counteract the loss of lean mass through diet control. The goal is to arrive at defining a reference nutritional protocol for long-lasting space missions.
The project is carried out under a specific agreement stipulated with the European Space Agency (ESA), by virtue of which the Italian Space Agency (Asi) was able to expand the possibilities of use of the International Space Station for the benefit of the Italian research sector. A first phase of this scientific test was carried out by ASI and ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano on the occasion of the Beyond mission on the International Space Station (ISS) from July 2019 to February 2020. The main objective set by the research team of Trieste is not so much that the astronaut maintains the same body weight, but rather that the lean mass remains constant.
In this regard, from Parmitano’s observation, physical activity and the quality of food were essential. In conditions of immobility and microgravity, a balanced diet rich in proteins (not the high-protein diet) should be preferred, with a good supply of antioxidants provided by vegetables, fruit, chocolate and even coffee. “The theme of proper nutrition – underlines Giovanni Valentini, responsible for the Italian Space Agency for the use of the International Space Station – is one of the main topics on which the research of the major world space agencies is focusing in the current exploration context. space, to study the risks associated with sending missions with astronauts beyond low earth orbit “.
“Long-lasting space flight – explains Filippo Giorgio Di Girolamo of the team of the University of Trieste – induces changes in body composition and, almost always, reduction in body mass. It is possible, with a nutritional intervention, to counteract or limit the harmful effect of microgravity on metabolism and skeletal muscle “.
Professor Gianni Biolo, coordinator of the team of the University of Trieste, finally underlines that “the results obtained with Luca Parmitano have demonstrated the effectiveness of the nutritional approach proposed by our team, and, in consideration of this, the ASI has planned with ESA to continue the Nutriss study on the occasion of two other ESA astronaut missions on the International Space Station (ISS), the upcoming one by Matthias Maurer and that of Samantha Cristoforetti expected in 2022 “.