No plant produces more edible carbohydrates per acre. The most important part for Mars inhabitants would be the starchy root. Cattails are well-known among Earth-bound survivalists for their many edible parts. Compared to Watney's potatoes, though, sorghum has five times the protein, 30 times the fat and about four times the calories per portion. That's why, as with cassava, the Earth's poor rely on sorghum as a food staple. Sorghum is a grain and, like cassava, it can yield a prodigious amount of food in poor conditions on little land. Cassava isn't very nutritious, but scientists are developing new genetically modified strains to help nourish those who rely on it. It grows well in poor soil, and it is one of the most drought-resistant crops known. Cassava, often called yuca, is a tuber and a carbohydrate staple for nearly a billion people worldwide. Here are a few suggestions of what to grow: The first wave of human Martian pioneers would need to be creative in their homesteading. The space agency's plans include using a greenhouse with LED lighting to grow a variety of basic food. NASA does have Mars colonization on its radar screen. Regular potatoes, close relatives to the poisonous tobacco and nightshade plants, can't be eaten raw and have highly toxic leaves. Sweet potatoes are just as easy to grow, yield more calories per square foot, have edible greens (nearly doubling the nutritional offering of white potatoes) and can be eaten raw. That said, within the vegetable world, NASA could do much better than potatoes.įor example, Astronaut Watney would have been enormously better off if NASA had packed sweet potatoes instead of standard potatoes. Indeed, no single vegetable would suffice for long-term survival, because no plant product offers vitamin B12, which is crucial for brain and nervous system functioning. Also, potatoes have nearly no fat, another essential nutrient. If Watney were to eat only potatoes and had no multivitamin supplement, within a year he could develop a host of symptoms: night-blindness for lack of vitamin A, rickets for lack of vitamin D, nerve damage for lack of vitamin E, easy bruising for lack of vitamin K, weak bones for lack of calcium, and a weak heart and deadly Keshan disease for lack of selenium. One would need to eat a variety of whale parts, however, including undigested food in the whale's gut, to get all the essential nutrients. The Inuit have been known to eat the animal exclusively for an entire year. And you'd need a lot of well-fed, lactating women to supply enough milk to keep a man alive for a few weeks, let alone a few years.
One is human breast milk, but it spoils quickly. However, no single food can provide all of the nutrients humans need for long-term survival, except arguably two, neither of which would be practical for a guy stranded on Mars. And, most importantly for Watney, they offer much-needed calories. They are high in vitamin C (no scurvy!), potassium, magnesium, iodine and some B vitamins. So for him, potatoes offer a surprising amount of nutrition. On Mars, astronaut Watney isn't exactly worried about putting on a few pounds.
#Matt damon martian movie skin#
Worse, most potatoes are consumed after removing the fibrous skin (which would otherwise help control blood sugar) and then frying the potato in oil or mashing and topping it with fatty butter or gravy. The body quickly converts carbs into simple sugars, causing spikes in blood-sugar levels that can ultimately lead to obesity and diabetes. Here on Earth, potatoes have been vilified in recent years because of the simple carbohydrates they contain. (Image credit: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation)
0 kommentar(er)
