According to a study, vegetables found in today’s supermarkets in the States are anywhere from 5% to 40% lower in minerals (including magnesium, iron, calcium and zinc) than those harvested just 50 years ago.
Today’s vegetables might be larger, but if you think that means they contain more nutrients, you’d be wrong. Donald R. Davis, a former research associate with the Biochemical Institute at the University of Texas, writes that jumbo-sized produce contains more “dry matter” than anything else, which dilutes mineral concentrations. In other words, when it comes to growing food, less is more. Scientific papers have cited one of the first reports of this effect, a 1981 study by W.M. Jarrell and R.B. Beverly in Advances in Agronomy, more than 180 times since its publication, “suggesting that the effect is widely regarded as common knowledge.”
Another problem is the “genetic dilution effect,” in which selective breeding to increase crop yield has led to declines in protein, amino acids, and minerals. Breeders select for high yield, effectively selecting mostly for high carbohydrate content.
Then there’s the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to make crops harvesting faster than ever before. But quick and early harvests mean the produce has less time to absorb nutrients either from synthesis or the soil.
Source: Time February 17, 2009
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Chapter: Food ::
7 April 2009
