Immune system dysregulation is among the many adverse effects incurred by astronauts during space flights. Omega-3 fatty acids, β-alanine, and carnosine are among the many nutrients that contribute to immune system health. For space flight, crewmembers are prescribed a diet with a macronutrient composition of 55% carbohydrate, 30% fat, and 15% protein. To quantify omega-3 fatty acid, β-alanine and carnosine intakes from such a diet, and to examine each nutrient’s impact on exercise performance, 21 participants adhered to the aforementioned macronutrient ratio for 14 days which was immediately followed by a workout performed on gravity-independent resistive exercise hardware. Results included daily omega-3 fatty acid intakes below the suggested dietary intake. Daily omega-3 fatty acid, β-alanine and carnosine intakes each correlated with non-significant amounts of variance from the workout’s volume of work. Given the nutritional requirements to maintain immune system function and the demands of in-flight exercise countermeasures for missions of increasingly longer durations current results, in combination with previously published works, imply in-flight supplementation may be a prudent approach to help address the physiological and mental challenges incurred by astronauts on future space flights.

Space flight imposes a myriad of adverse effects upon the human body. Improved in-flight nutritional strategies help mitigate those adverse effects. This review examines how space flight changes human physiology, and how improved in-flight nutritional strategies may address the unique dietary needs created by microgravity exposure. Dietary approaches and recommendations to address those needs are discussed. This review also describes food sustainability methods for long-term manned space flight, how precision nutrition can aid in-flight dietary prescriptions, and how wearable technologies can help monitor dietary status and health during long-term manned space flight. This review describes the magnitude of adverse changes incurred from space flight, and the current knowledge base on how improved in-flight nutritional strategies may abate the adverse changes. Wearable technologies, used in conjunction with precision nutrition prescriptions, may best serve the demands of monitoring human health and dietary status on future manned space flights.

Field lacrosse requires sudden directional changes and rapid acceleration/deceleration. The capacity to perform these skills is dependent on explosive muscle force production. Limited research exists on the potential of sprint interval training (SIT) to impact explosive muscle force production in field lacrosse players. The purpose of this study is to examine SIT, concurrent to field-lacrosse-specific training, on the rate of torque development (RTD), contractile impulse, and muscle function in female high school field lacrosse players (n = 12; 16 ± 1 yrs.). SIT was performed three times per week, concurrent to field-lacrosse-specific training, for 12 weeks. Right lower-limb muscle performance was assessed pre-, mid-, and post-SIT training via isometric and isokinetic concentric knee extensor contractions. Outcomes included RTD (Nm·s⁻¹), contractile impulse (Nm·s), and peak torque (Nm). RTD for the first 50 ms of contraction improved by 42% by midseason and remained elevated at postseason (p = 0.004, effect size (ES) = −577.3 to 66.5). Contractile impulse demonstrated a training effect across 0–50 ms (42%, p = 0.004, ES = −1.4 to 0.4), 0–100 ms (33%, p = 0.018, ES = 3.1 to 0.9), and 0–200 ms (22%, p = 0.031, ES = −7.8 to 1.6). Isometric (0 rad·s⁻¹) and concentric (3.1 rad·s⁻¹) strength increased by 20% (p = 0.002, ES = −60.8 to −20.8) and 9% (p = 0.038, ES = −18.2 to 0.0) from SIT and field-lacrosse-specific training, respectively (p < 0.05). SIT, concurrent to field-lacrosse-specific training, enhanced lower-limb skeletal muscle performance, which may enable greater sport-specific gains.