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.
Scientists have known that bone loss occurs in space, but the reasons have been unclear
(Â鶹´«Ã½, 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.…
