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A voyage to Mars: Space radiation, aging, and nutrition

Issue title: Selected papers from the 42nd Annual American Aging Association Pre-conference on Aging and Nutrition, Baltimore, MD, USA

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Rabin, Bernard M. | Shukitt-Hale, Barbara

Affiliations: Department of Psychology, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA | Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, USDA-ARS, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA

Note: [] Corresponding author: Bernard M. Rabin, Psychology/UMBC, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA. Tel.: +1 410 455 2430; Fax: +1 410 455 1055; E-mail: rabin@umbc.edu

Keywords: Cosmic rays, oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, antioxidant diets

DOI: 10.3233/NUA-140045

Journal: Nutrition and Aging, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 233-241, 2014

Published: 2014
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Abstract

On exploratory class missions, such as a voyage to Mars, astronauts will be exposed to doses and types of radiation that are not experienced in low earth orbit where the space shuttle and International Space Station operate. Astronauts who participate in exploratory class missions outside the magnetic field of the earth will be exposed to galactic cosmic rays which are composed of alpha particles, protons and particles of high energy and charge. Exposure to cosmic rays produces changes in neuronal and behavioral functioning which are characteristic of aged organisms. As has been observed with aging, maintaining rats on antioxidant berry diets can prevent/ameliorate the radiation-induced changes in neural and behavioral function. As such, these diets have the potential to provide protection to astronauts from the deleterious effects of exposure to space radiation.