Malayalis to quench thirst of US astronauts

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In those long lonely space flights, there will soon be a health drink to quench the thirst of astronauts, developed by Malayali scientists at the University of Florida. The project for development of such a space-drink, submitted by Dr Sadasivan Vidyasagar, assistant professor in the Radiation Oncology Department, University of Florida, has been sanctioned funding from the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) in the US.The NSBRI operates under a co-operative agreement with the NASA. The health  drink, which will be taken to space, will be a modification of the nutritional drink called ‘Enterade’, developed by Vidyasagar and team. The same lab had also created the highly popular sports drink Gatorade which is being manufactured by PepsiCo.The space drink will have almost the same composition as Enterade, which is a concoction of amino acids and minerals. This had been a boon for cancer patients who have to undergo radiation as part of their treatment. “In the case of cancer patients, Enterade functions as a radiation mitigation drink bringing down side-effects such as diarrhoea. The new version will have to be modified so that it can be taken to space. It cannot be taken in the form of a liquid or powder form,” said Vidyasagar, who along with the investors and the University of Florida, holds the patent for Enterade.“To take it to space, the liquid form will have to be converted into a paste and the research will be financed by the commercialisation assistance programme of the NSBRI and the research project will be part of the NSBRI Radiation Effects team,” said Dr Hari Thrivikramji, who along with Vidyasagar had formed a company by the same name to manufacture Enterade. “Ideally we are looking for something that will come out of a tube,” he said.The duo, both alumni of Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, had held high-level discussions on this with the Industries Minister and the officials of the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation a couple of months ago to manufacture the drink from the biotechnology park in the state.Not just astronauts and cancer patients, long-distance marathon runners and soldiers on the war-front who might get exposed to bomb explosions would find the Enterade drink pretty useful.