IF PEOPLE are ever to reach Mars or other planets, they had better take some
broccoli plants with them. French researchers have found that a deficiency of
vitamin K—which is particularly abundant in broccoli—may contribute
to bone loss in astronauts.
51¶¯Âþs have known that bone loss occurs in space, but the reasons have been unclear
(51¶¯Âþ, 15 July, p 22). To try to understand the
mechanism, a team from the Jean Monnet University at Saint-Étienne studied the
biochemical markers of bone formation in the blood and urine of two cosmonauts
on separate Mir space missions.…
