Loneliness may cause food to taste bad in space, new study claims

Space is inherently lonely. Sure, the crew members of the International Space Station have fellow astronauts to work alongside, but they’re often isolated from their friends and family here on Earth for months at a time. Now, a new study may have linked the loneliness that comes with being in space to why food tastes bad in space.

The new study comes from RMIT University, and its findings suggest that food aromas might be key to understanding exactly why astronauts seem to struggle to enjoy their meals in space. Additionally, the study found that the environment can even change how astronauts perceive the aromas and flavors of their food.

The lead researcher, Julia Low, explained in a press release that “a greater sense of loneliness and isolation may also play a role. There are implications from this study around how isolated people smell and taste food.” All of these findings come together to try to explain in greater detail why food tastes bad in space.

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Another reason food does not taste as good in space—especially when astronauts first travel to the ISS—is likely due to swelling in their faces and nasal congestion. This is linked to how the lack of gravity on the ISS pulls fluids from the lower body to the upper body.

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It essentially gives the astronauts the symptoms of a head cold and can impact their sense of taste and smell. However, those symptoms usually fade within a few weeks. To study the true effects of smell on why food tastes bad in space, the researchers used VR to simulate the ISS.

They then tested participants to see how they would respond to different scents, such as vanilla, almond, and lemon. They found that some scenes, like vanilla and almond, were much more intense in the simulated space station, while the lemon scene remained relatively the same strength.

The overall goal of this study was to help figure out not only why food tastes bad in space but also which foods can be better tailored to provide astronauts with a better experience, especially for long-term missions like the upcoming Artemis moon missions.

These findings and a complete breakdown of the study are available in the latest issue of the International Journal of Food Science and Technology.

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