An antioxidant found in red wine and blueberries is being dubbed by researchers as a potential supplement in preserving muscle mass and strength in astronauts heading to Mars.
According to recent studies by the Harvard Medical School in the U.S., bones and weight-bearing muscles, such as calves, waste away in low-gravity, with astronauts sent on missions to Mars subject to 40 per cent less gravity than experienced on Earth.
Resveratrol, a compound often found in red wine and blueberries, could help prevent muscle wasting following a study on rats in simulated Mars gravity.
“Resveratrol has been shown to preserve bone and muscle mass in rats during complete unloading, analogous to microgravity during spaceflight. So, we hypothesised that a moderate daily dose would help mitigate muscle de-conditioning in a Mars gravity analogue, too,” said Dr Marie Mortreux, lead author of the NASA-funded study at the laboratory of Dr. Seward Rutkove, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School.
“After just 3 weeks in space, the human soleus muscle shrinks by a third. This is accompanied by a loss of slow-twitch muscle fibres, which are needed for endurance.”
“Dietary strategies could be key, especially since astronauts travelling to Mars won’t have access to the type of exercise machines deployed on the ISS [International Space Station].”
The results found the resveratrol supplementation protected the muscle mass in the Mars rats and reduced the loss of slow-twitch muscle fibres, however the supplement did not entirely rescue average soleus and gastrocnemius fibres cross-sectional area, or calf circumferences.
The anti-inflammatory effects of resveratrol could also help to conserve muscle and bone, and other antioxidant sources such as dried plums are being used to test this, said Dr. Mortreux.
“Further studies are needed to explore the mechanisms involved, as well as the effects of different doses of resveratrol (up to 700 mg/kg/day) in both males and females,” she said.
“In addition, it will be important to confirm the lack of any potentially harmful interactions of resveratrol with other drugs administered to astronauts during space missions.”
