-- Shares Facebook Twitter Reddit Email A recent, world-first study looking into common food aromas may explain why astronauts claim meals taste bland in space and find it difficult to fulfill their nutritional needs. Researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Australia found that spatial perception can greatly impact how people smell different aromas and, in turn, taste various flavors. Amongst astronauts, a greater sense of loneliness and isolation while on the International Space Station (ISS) can influence how they smell and taste their food, the study reported.
“What we're going to see in the future with the Artemis missions are much longer missions, years in length, particularly when we go to Mars, so we really need to understand the problems with diet and food and how crew interact with their food,” Gail Iles, former astronaut instructor and co-researcher from RMIT School of Science, said in a statement from the university. Related How I enjoyed eating when I lost my sense of smell and taste Previous studies examined the phenomenon of fluid shift, which states that astronauts experience taste differently due to the lack of gravity. This causes bodily fluids to move upwards towards the head rather than flow down towards the feet, thus causing a blocked nose along with facial swelling which obstructs one's sense of smell and taste.
Now, researchers are saying there may be more reasons why meals taste so bland in space. The study, published i.
