By the time a child is 4-8 years old, his sugar consumption skyrockets to an average of 21 teaspoons a day. The same study found 14-18 year old children intake the most sugar on a daily basis, averaging about 34.3 teaspoons.
In space, the body begins to adapt to the microgravity environment. NSBRIâs science and technology program is addressing ways to reduce or eliminate many of the changes to the body that impact an astronautâs ability to perform well in space and that might impact their health after returning to Earth.
Because more than half of the muscles of the human body resist gravitational force on Earth, musculoskeletal acclimation to microgravity results in profound muscle atrophy, reaching up to 50% muscle mass loss in some astronauts over the course of long-term missions [5].