While some may associate the drink Tang with astronaut’s nutritional intake in space, another element of an outer space diet could spell relief for people with intestinal problems like Crohn’s disease or irritable bowel syndrome.

At Tel Aviv University’s Sackler School of Medicine, researchers found that a nutritional powder used in space to help astronauts reach their nutritional goals could be as helpful as steroid-based treatments to reduce inflammation in children, although it requires them to only use the powder, rather than meals during the initial course of therapy.

Lead author Dr Raanan Shamir found that if given the powder for six to eight weeks, irritable bowel syndrome sufferers went into remission, although he said that the results are maintained by continuing to use the powder as one-quarter or one-half of one’s dietary intake for up to several years.

"The acceptance of this is difficult," he says, adding that as the therapy is most effective in children, doctors have to be convinced that the treatment works since "it’s much easier to give someone a prescription than try to work with the child."