incidentally, they also gave the reason for the liquid diet. (if you are squeamish do not read further)
if they had particles of food in their stomach during the ascent, it could have posed a risk. the risk is that since the capsule forces them to be upright, if they were to vomit from motion sickness, they would be unable to bend over and clear their airway, which would pose a hazard of aspirating particles and fluids into their lungs which could cause aspirative pneumonia.
It was also protein-charged to have their bodies ready in case they had a hypertensive event or in the case of the capsule getting stuck on the way up and they were to be trapped for a significant period of time they needed an energy reserve, as they have already been stressed beyond normal limits and would be hosed.... that is why they sent up the healthiest ones first, in case of a problem with the ascent process.
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