Are people aware about the fact that the fruits and vegetables being consumed today have fewer nutrients than 70 years ago?
Recent studies suggest that more carbon dioxide produced in the environment is less nutritious and more caloric and also notably toxic. Fruits and vegetables being sold in the supermarkets have been getting juicier, bigger and more appealing but it is not as good as it was before.
 |
| Source: Harvard Health |
The nutritional content of some vegetables, from spinach to asparagus, have had a significant drop of nutrition since 1950.
According to the US based study conducted in 2004, nutrients in some garden crops are up to 38% lower than there were in the 20th century. Among 43 vegetables being analysed for nutrients, calcium content declined by 16%, iron by 15%, and phosphorus by 9% on average.
Scientists developed a new high yield variety of crops and breeds of livestock after World War II after the world suffered a food crisis along with synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides to accelerate production. Though the global yield of crops rose 175% between 1961 and 2014, nutrients levels declined bringing modern farming techniques under scrutiny.
Sterre ter Haar, a lecturer at Leiden University in the Netherlands conducted an experiment along with other researchers which showed a significant drop of zinc level with a rise of lead in crops.
She said,
“Seeing how dramatic some of the nutritional changes were, and how this differed across plants, was a big surprise. We aren’t seeing a simple dilution effect but rather a complete shift in the composition of our foods. This also raises the question of whether we should adjust our diets in some way, or how we grow or produce our food.”
As per the research, the CO2 appears to have a linear effect on the growth of crops which means if the CO2 level doubles, so does the effect on nutrients.
She added,
“Although there was a lot of data from previous studies, there were few answers. These studies used paired experiments, where plants were grown under identical conditions except for one thing: the CO2 level. This gives insight into possible changes, but the sample sizes were usually too small to draw conclusions from. Comparing these individual studies with each other was difficult because, as we know, the baseline of CO2 is continuously increasing in our atmosphere, meaning that the baseline in these experiments is also increasing.”
A review of the scientific lecture published in 2024, “Foods” emphasized that the situation is alarming and a ‘serious issue for the upcoming generations’. It is a serious problem for people who solely depend on plant based diets.
David R. Montgomery, a professor of geomorphology at the University of Washington in Seattle said,
“Nutrient decline is going to leave our bodies with fewer of the components they need to mount defenses against chronic diseases. It’s going to undercut the value of food as preventive medicine.”
An expert in climate change and health at the University of Washington in Seattle, Kristie Ebi said,
“Even for people who avoid processed foods and prioritize fresh produce, this trend means that what our grandparents ate was healthier than what we’re eating today.”
Some studies also suggest that soil depletion is the reason behind less iron, zinc, calcium, riboflavin, and other vitamins in fruits and vegetables. Hence, it is not just enough to fertilize more but to regenerate soil life.
Though some research claims that the condition of soil is causing nutrient depletion, Steve McGrath, a professor in soil and plant science at Rothamsted Research in the UK stated that there is no role of soil in making the food products less nutritious.
He said,
“First, our findings show that it isn’t a lack of micronutrients in the soil that is driving the lower nutrients in the crop. Those that are bioavailable, that is, in a form that the plant can absorb, don’t change with intensive farming methods.”
Hence, if the soil is as good as it was, what could be causing the crops to become less nutritious? Have the plants changed themselves in the course of time?
