Newsletter Vol. 2 No. 1, May 26, 2021

I’m Not Going To Whine, I’m Neither Fit nor Smart

But you knew that, didn’t you?

It has been an up-and-down year so far, but you have stuck with your interest in microgreens, despite my absence. Thank you.

If you’ve read the About Page on Microgreens World, you’ll know that I am a former professional soccer player.  And like all pro careers, you’re going to have a few injuries along the way.

In 2006, during a charity game of all things, I tore a meniscus in my left knee. You have two donut-looking C-shaped pieces of shock-absorbing cartilage that sit in each of your knees.

I underwent surgery and spent 10 weeks recovering.

My knee has been good since then, until 5 weeks ago.

While pushing a wagon of soil bags up an incline, my left leg buckled, and I felt the searing pain in that old left knee.

I knew I had torn it again.

While lying in the operating waiting area (my surgery was two hours late!) I asked if I could get something to read.

The attending nurse handed me my old iPad and I started surfing.

Elon Musk, SpaceX, and the Mars Rover were all over the news.

And like you know too well down the rabbit hole I went.

Didn’t end up in Wonderland, but I learned who were the world’s fittest, smartest persons. Could they be eating microgreens?

Four hours later and filled with drugs (yuk!) I was back walking, slowly, gingerly.

Since surgery, kale and broccoli microgreens have been part of every meal (see my delicious breakfast in the Recipe section).

The sulforaphane in these microgreens blocks an enzyme that causes joint pain and inflammation.

But that near Wonderland article stayed with me. In that article, I learned that it costs $10,000 to send a pound of dehydrated, freeze-dried broccoli to the Space Station!

There had to be a better more inexpensive way.

Turns out there is.

Read the Feature article Astronauts Aren’t Wimps, and learn why NASA thinks microgreens is the next best superfood.

Astronauts Aren’t Wimps, And They Eat Microgreens

Ever thought about what astronauts in the International Space Station (ISS) eat? Here it is, straight from the mouth of Canadian ISS astronaut, Chris Hadfield:

“Airline food is cooked in an oven and then kept warm. Space station food is often cooked in an oven and then thermo-stabilized, irradiated or dehydrated and then stored for a year or two before you even get to it.”

Cardboard, there’s nothing pleasant about it.

In 2015, the US National Aeronautics and Space Agency, NASA, decide to do something about that. Enter Veg-04B, the Growth of Assorted Microgreens in Microgravity experiment at the ISS that studied how microgreens grow in simulated gravity.

Why microgreens, you ask?

 

Not only do astronauts have STEM degrees (Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math), three years of professional training, or 1000 hours in a jet plane, they must learn

• to fly the spacecraft,
• about medical procedures,
• public speaking (yes, the scariest thing on Earth)
• emergency preparedness,
• to speak Russian,

and be in top physical condition to pass NASA’s astronaut physical examination.

And that’s only some of what they do to get ready to go to space.

Once they get up into the ISS, they need lots of exercise and lots of nutrients.

Brassica microgreens are among the most nutritious food candidates for astronauts.

Astronauts aren’t wimps.

NASA has identified, along with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), some of the most nutrient-rich microgreens for sustaining the health and fitness of the most physically and mentally fit persons on the planet.

Learn what they can do for you and your health and longevity.

How Not To Be A Wimp

Over 20 years of research from the International Space Station gives scientists the health and nutritional risks for men and women when they are in space for long durations.

These health risks, which can lead to severe psychological stress, and depression of astronauts, include:

• weight loss,
• blood disorders (like anemia),
• cellular damage (from space radiation),
• protein oxidation,
• muscle breakdown, and
• eye damage.

NASA scientists, like the folks at John’s Hopkins University, have concluded astronauts need whole-food-based antioxidants rather than supplements (see my article Why Eat Microgreens).

The Veg-04B space station experiment concluded that microgreens are one of the best sources of whole food nutrition for long-duration spaceflight missions (like Mars) when astronauts cannot obtain regular resupplies of fresh produce from Earth.

Microgreens Nutrition

Traditional crops can take weeks to mature, but microgreens are ready to harvest within two weeks, can be grown in tiny spaces, can be immediately eaten, and have high nutrient concentrations.

And, growing microgreens for space flight gives astronaut crews the specific nutrients they need for future exploration missions.

In research done at the University of Maryland and the USDA, agricultural scientists have isolated the nutrients that can support space flight, specifically iron, magnesium, potassium, and carotenoids.

	Magnesium	Potassium	Iron	β-carotene	Lutien / Zeaxanthin	Violaxanthin
Arugula	41	343	0.71	7.5	5.4	0.2
China Rode Radish	48	270	0.62	5.4	4.9	1.9
Daikon Radish	60	176	0.57	6.1	4.5	1.7
Mizuna	29	354	0.57	7.6	5.2	2.4
Peppercress	33	320	0.48	11.1	7.7	3.1
Purple Kohlrabi	55	342	0.75	5.7	4	1.5
Red Cabbage	39	240	0.62	11.5	8.6	2.9
Red Mustard	28	289	0.62	6.5	4.9	1.7
Wasabi	41	387	0.65	8.5	6.6	2.2

Table 1 Average macro-element and micro-element concentrations of select microgreens (mg/100 g Food Weight)

 

Food As Medicine

Remember your mom telling you to “eat your carrots?”

Suppose you eat whole-food-based food like Red cabbage or Cilantro microgreens. In that case, you get high concentrations of carotenoids essential for human vision.

βeta carotene produces vitamin A, zeaxanthin, and lutein in your body to protect your eyes by absorbing excess light intensity.

All the carotenoids protect against cellular damage from radiation exposure.

Magnesium improves bone and heart health for astronauts. It also regulates blood pressure. Together with potassium, magnesium helps prevent kidney stones.

Iron improves anemia, but astronaut levels are higher and must be monitored in crops.

Just like astronauts in space, as we age, our vision deteriorates. So do our cells. We become susceptible to a host of chronic diseases.

Getting microgreens in your diet as part of a whole food nutrition program is what we teach at Microgreens World. And you can grow them.

Eleven Years and 165,000 Seeds

Forced with small spaces, on the space station, astronauts can grow microgreens in an area as small as 8.0cm (3.14in) x 5.0cm (1.9in), or 40 cm2 (6.2 sq. in)

In their 40 cm² growth chamber, the crew can harvest about 76g (2.68 oz) every 10-14 days from 1.66 gm of seed.

Microgreens	Red Cabbage; Brassica oleracea var. capitata
Amount of seeds	576 (1.66 g)
Space	8.0cm (3.14in) x 5.0cm (1.9in), or 40 cm2 (6.2 sq. in)
Yield	76 g (2.68 oz)

Table 2 Microgreens yields in outer space

 

At the rate of  26 crops of microgreens a year, they produce about 1.98 kg (4.4 lbs) of microgreens. That’s the equivalent of about 17 four-ounce packs of microgreens, similar to what you would buy in a store. Check out my article, Where To Buy Microgreens.

Now do the math: 1.66 g of seeds x 26 harvest = 43.16 gm per year. It would take the astronauts 11 years and 7 months to use 0.5kg (500 gm) of seeds (165,000).

By the way, in outer space, your taste sensation is reduced. So, astronauts prefer spicy, tangy foods. That’s why red cabbage and the other microgreens on the list in Table 1were chosen for space flight.

The nutrient levels are excellent, and astronauts preferred them in a taste test.

Things to Consider

Lighting and light color (red versus blue) impact microgreens’ health, yield, and nutritional content. It is best to use full-spectrum LED lighting (reduced heat).

Pre-order “How to Grow Microgreens At Home) (below) to learn how specific lighting can change microgreens’ nutrient levels and flavors.

Microgreens can germinate and grow without soil nutrients. But unless you know what you are doing, your microgreens will lack nutrition and taste.

The rapid turnaround time is sensible for any space flight scenario where crew time is limited or when power, weight, and yield limitations block growing crops to maturity.

And, because of their low gardening maintenance requirements and high water/space-use efficiency, you can grow microgreens on your patio, kitchen counter, or windowsill.

Soil Secrets: Eight Days To Growing Nutritious Microgreens Indoors

Now that you know Astronauts will be growing microgreens on Mars, what’s stopping you from putting this superfood of superfoods in your kitchen, on your plate? Ready to learn how to:

• Reduce stress? Gardening is therapeutic.
• Create your own pharmacy? Food is thy medicine.
• Produce nutrient-rich plants? Chronic disease is reversible.

Including microgreens in meals is an easy way to nourish and detoxify our bodies without spending a fortune or cooking up an elaborate, time-consuming dish.

• Microgreens grow quickly
• Microgreens are inexpensive
• Microgreens need very little space
• Microgreens are packed with nutrition
• Microgreens are a sustainable food choice
• Microgreens can be grown year-round anywhere
• Microgreens are a powerhouse of flavor and taste

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