The problem of possible conservation of the natural activity of food products is discussed. The struggle for the preservation of the natural activity of food products is an important means of preventing the unfavorable consequences of long term hypokinesia

Petrovskiy, K. S.

English

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NASA M-75989
Translation of "Alimentarnaya gipokineziya"
Gigiena i Sanitariya, No. 2, Feb. 1974, pp 18-22
(NASA-TM- 715989) AUMENIARY HYPOK,INESI.A(National Aeronautics and Space
Administ:raticn) 8 P HC A02/MTV A01 CSCL 06P
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NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
WASHDIGTON, D. C. 20546	 MARCH 1980
ALEWTARY HYPOKINESIA
K. S. Petrovskiy
first Moscow Medical Institute im. Sechenov
The complex of disturbances in the area of alirentation and digestion that de- 18*
velop due to hypokinesia may be referred to as alimentary hypokinesia and this may
be regarded as a spec=ial form of the phenomenon of general hypokinesia.
Alimentary hypokinesia is based upon weakening of the activity of the digestive
system combined with a reduction in alimentation activity against a background of de-
veloping endogenuc intoxication. Under the influence of prolonged hypokinesia there
is a weakening of the activity of the secretory and motor function of the stomach and
intestine leading to tonus reduction in the entire digestive system. Moreover, due to
hypokinesia there occur adverse shifts in the makeup of the intestinal microflora that
intensify putrefactive processes as well as redistribution of the microflora in vari-
ous portions of the digestive tract. These changes in the microbic landscape make an
impression on all aspects of the digestive processes. It is not out of the question,
that in the case of a mature and older person the greatest harm to health from hypo-
kinesia proceeds from its untoward effect on the composition of the intestinal micro-
organisms and the shifts arising therefrom. The intensification of putrefactive pro-
cesses in the intestine, on the one hand, and failure, on the other hand, to eliminate
its contents due to a reduction in motor activity produces increased absorption of the
toxic products of decomposition.
The attendant chronic endogenous intoxication has an adverse effect on the
	 /19
condition and function of the liver and on its digestive, detoxifying and synthesiz-
ing functions and this in turn aggravates and Litennsifies the development of endogen-
ous intoxication.
The data referred to by no means exhaust the entire complex of changes and dis-
ruptions occurring in the digestive system under the influence of long term hypokine-
sia. Despite their variety all these changes take a single direction: they reduce
Numbers in the margin indicate pagination in the foreign text.
1
digestive activity and weaken the secretory and motor functions of the stomach and
and intestine with subsequent development of chronic endogenous intoxication which
condil a.ons the absorption of decomposition products of food materials.
In the context of what has just been outlined, in the alimentation of modern
man one of our chief tasks is to set up conditions which prevent, or at the very
least do not favor, occurrence of the negative effect of hypokinesia. Alimentation
and hypokinesia should not act in the same direction. Alirmntation should be suf-
ficiently active, capable of 1:oning up the digestive system and rousing it to ac-
tivity.
Meanwhide the shifts in the alimentation of many persons not only do not hinder
but actually favor the development and progress of those disturbances in the diges-
tive system which cone about as the result of general hypokinesia. If hypokinesia
in general brings about a reduction in the activity of the digestive system, then
it is equally true that the alimentation of many persons, their foodstuffs and food
allowances taken as a whole likewise have reduced this activity.
It was not too long ago that food refining was spoken of as one of the n-iost im-
portant of our contemporary problems. This is no longer true, inasmuch as bioactive
noninterchangeable components, such as vitamins, polyunsaturated fatty acids, phos-
phates, lecithin, microelerrents, etc. are used in alimentation and preclude refining.
In contemporary alimentation a new problem of great importance has arisen and the so-
lution is fraught with difficulty. The food eaten by many persons today is losing
to an ever increasing extent its capacity for toning the digestive system and its
secretory and motor apparatus, actually diminishing the activity of alimentar y
 ton-
ing and reducing the stimulus for other systems of the organism to be active.
Lowering of alimeantar-y activity has occurred under the influence of many etiolo-
gical factors among which we must mention before all others those of a technological
nature vhi.ch weaken the activity of food products during the manufacturing^
	
	 ,	 	 p	 g	 g process
and possibly, in the case of vegetative products, during cultivation. Among the o-
ther causal factors we must include those qualities of alimentation that have taken
shape in the diet 6f many persons under modern conditions.
a	 2
I
Ii-i the manufacture of food products we note, among the factors that weaken
their activity, a large number of different chemical, physical and tem perature-re-
lated effects to which they are subjected at tugs. This refers to such highly ac-
tive foodstuffs as vegetable oil, dairy butter:, food extracts, bakery products, etc.
The widespread use of the extraction method for making vegetable oil and its subse-
quent processinc; inevitably leads to weakening of its inherent natural activity.
Even non-processed butter undergoes fairly intensive temperature-related and diem-
ical treatment that affects its native activity. The addition of phosphates to pro-
cessed vegetable oil does not completely restore the natural complex that defines its
activity as a food product. An expensive product like real butter, made by the lat-
est technological methods, is exposed during manufacture to a number of adverse fac-
tors associated with heating the cream , physical and mechanical influences that 	 /20
go along with high speeds, etc. and are reflected in the structure of the butter
Eat. Due to their natural activity these unsurpassed foodstuffs are treated with ev-
ery kind of consideration both in the manufacturing process in dairies as well as in
prepared food establishments and in the home.
Another kind of staple food, bakery items, are deprived of some of their activ-
ity chiefly through removal of the germ when the flour is milled. if we wish to re-
tain the activity of processed grain products we avast find the most effective. and
the most teclulologically acceptable methods for enriching bakery products, including
'chose of the highest quality, with germ in the form of special ^ germ enriched flour
or somti other germ product that may be introduced into the flour. This would achieve
in the same degree as the introduction of phosphates into vegetable oil the effect of
partial restoration of the natural activities of processed grain products.
It is also necessary to preserve the activity of a product for mass consumption
such as milk. In respect to milk used as food the principle has long been estab-
lished that the longer the interval between production and use the lower the activi-
ty. it seems that fresh milk, i. e. milk used as soon as possible, is the most ac-
tive form of food milk. However, furnishing fresh milk to the whole population is
out of the question, so we must look for methods of retaining the milk's activity as
mypletely as possible so that in quality it will approach fresh milk.
A method for retaining high activity in milk is imu-ediate refrigeration and
transport in refrigeration units. Milk handled in this way retains its activity
3
fairly long, up to 24 hours and mare, and in respect to biological dualities hardly
differs from fresh milk. In the interest of people's health refrigeration conditions
should be provided for on every dairy farm. Milk should be released only when it has
been cooled to the set temperature. This temperature should be a standard index.
lRetention of the activity of this product is inseparably bound up with maintenance of
high duality in the initial product; we must not permit acidity and bacterial proli-
feration to rise above threshold values. in respect to milk products, their activi-
ty may be enhanced by the addition of vitamins, by the economic use of sham milk
and highly active buttermilk, etc. in all cases purposeful and correct use of lactic
fermentation should be regarded as a factor in heightening the activity of diluted
milk beverages such as reconstituted milk.
In order to provide for high activity in milk it is very importarnt to reduce the
trip from dairy farm, to stone, avoiding all intermediate steps. We should regard as
very farsighted the setting up of equipment on dairy farms for pasteurization and
bottling, thus making direct store delivery possible.
Measures taken to assure feed quality play an essential role in increasing the
activity of milk. Milk gotten from cows fed on second rate feed has lost some of its
activity Fzc the very start and continues to do so as it is transported to the consum-
er.
In contemporary technological systems for the manufacture of many milk products
and related products the m: is subjected to various factors that interfere with the
natural composition of this marvelous food product. The composition of the milk is
disturbed in the manufacture of milk products and creamery butter. Here m-i essen-
tial part of the milk appears unnecessary, superfluous and even an obstacle to ob-
taining the contemplated milk product. Thus in converting milk to butter there is /21
no place for the protein which goes into the whey and finds no use in human food
consumption. Today, with new technological systems for turning out some mill-, pro-
ducts, a more and more "interfering" role seems to be played by lactose, milk sugar,
•that remarkable normalizer of intestinal digestion. A situation has been created in
which, due to the release of lactose from milk products (in cheese making, etc.), so
great a supply of lactose has been created that -the question arises, what should be
done with it and how it can be used most economically. A serious obstacle in the
use of lactose for human food consumption and as food enricimt is some persons'
4
intolerance of milk. Here the negative effect of Lactose appears associated with
its negative effect on persons suffering from a congenital enzyme insufficiency in
respect to lactose. This has led to an ever increasing lactose supply but its use
is as restricted as ever..
Thus, the problem of using economically all the component parts of milk is very
difficult and diverse, although in great part open to solution.
A very complicated problem is involved in preserving the activity of meat as a
food product. We may suppose, that the most active form is fresh meat, i. e. meat
that has spent little time bet-men butchering and consumption. Under metropolitan
conditions, of course, there is no question of supplying everyone with J.'resh meat
in full quantity. However a great deal can be done to keep meat intended for mass
consumption from lagging far behind fresh meat in the sales network as far as acti-
vity is concerned. In this context the first problem to call for attention is re-
frigeration. it may be supposed, that modern refrigeration metlocls insure a high
quality level in preserving the nutritional and biological properties of refrigera-
ted meat. Moreover, a fairly long refrigeration period does not entail the meat's
loss of activity as food.
All the problems, :i.. e. the loss of activity by refrigerated meat, occur in
processing and following defrosting. If it were possible to avoid, i. e. exclude
the thawirig process, there would be a possibility of having meat with hardly any loss
of activity and very close to fresh meat. in this context special interest is crea-
ted by chilled meat, i. e. meat chilled to the limit but not frozen. This is usual-
ly done by bringing tbe inner temperature of the meat down to +4°C.
Thexe is promise in the sublimation method for dehydrating some foods which as-
k
sures preservation of their activity in the highest degree and long-term stability
in storage. Sublimational dehydration, lyophilization, deals with the frozen pro-
duct in a vacuum, where the water is removed directly from the ice crystals without
going through the fatty stage. Heating the frozen product in a vacuum prevents it
from thawing, thus guaranteeing complete activity of the product, including the re-
tention of vitamins, salts, the flavor complex, etc.
The outstanding feature of sublimated products is the fact, that on hydration,
5
. . zu%re 
f
i. a. when water is added, the foods recover vast of their natural properties as
found in the fresh product. if it is proposed that astronauts be fed sublimated
foods in long orbital space flights, there is every justification to extend the use
of such products to people on earth.
'The weightiest factor in reducing food activity, as is well known, is the refin-
ing, i. e. the "purifying" of the product, removing fillers and impurities and gua-
ranteeing its maximum homgenei4-y.
Instant products (coffee, sugar, tea, etc.) which have become, so widespread 	 /22
may be regarded as a new form of refined food products.
A real threat to the activity of foods is posed by the unfounded exclusion from
people's diet of whole groups of highly active foods (eggs, butter, cream, cabbage,
vegetables, etc.). If we stop to realize, that every food product has its own unique
properties not duplicated in other products, we can understand what care must be ex-
ercised in recommending or discouraging the use of a given food.
Under current conditions of alimentary hypokinesia for persons, incl:.iding the
mature and the elderly, who practically speaking are healthy, of prime importance is
the collective factor, which envisions exclusion of mass consumption of food while
retaining a high degree of food variety.
Realization of suitable measures for preserving food activity may be one of the
effective ways to forestall development of the consequences of prolonged general
hypokimesia.
6


Alimentary hypokinesia

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