How do scientists at UMass-Amherst make sure astronaut food is nutritious? | Behind the Science S3E8

Posted by

Waters Corporation

Since there aren't any grocery stores in outer space (yet), astronauts have to bring shelf-stable and nutritious food with them. Jen visits the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to meet Tim Goulette and William Dixon, food science Ph.D. students. They're researching the degradation of vitamins B and C in astronaut's food such as brown rice and rhubarb apple sauce during storage. For vitamin C, the researchers use HPLC data to model vitamin performance over a variety of storage lifetimes, so agencies can make decisions about when to resupply food and when to use vitamin supplements. For more information about how vitamins are analyzed, go to www.waters.com/vitamins