Less tasty -- and not as good for you

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well, duh...

 

 

http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/cgi/reprint/44/1/15?ijkey=RfqpDkPqP6D3rRt & ke\

ytype=ref

 

Less tasty -- and not as good for you

Industrially grown produce shows long-term nutritional decline

Posted by Tom Philpott at 8:57 AM on 28 Jan 2009

Read more about: food | agriculture | Big Ag | health | organic food

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Talk to old-timers, and they'll often tell you that the tomatoes you

find in supermarket produce sections don't taste anything like the

ones they had in their childhoods in the '30s and '40s.

 

Turns out, they're probably not as nutritious, either.

 

In an article [PDF] published in the February 2009 issue of the

HortScience Review, University of Texas researcher Donald R. Davis

compiles evidence that points to declines in nutrition in vegetables

and (to a lesser extent) fruits over the past few decades.

 

For example:

 

[T]hree recent studies of historical food composition data found

apparent median declines of 5% to 40% or more in some minerals in

groups of vegetables and perhaps fruits; one study also evaluated

vitamins and protein with similar results.

He points to another study in which researchers planted low- and high-

yielding varieties of broccoli and grain side-by-side. The high-

yielding varieties showed less protein and minerals.

 

The principle seems to be that when plants are nudged to produce as

much as possible -- whether through lots of synthetic fertilizers and

pesticides or through selective breeding -- they deliver fewer

nutrients. It evidently isn't just the flavor that's become diluted in

those bland supermarket tomatoes.

 

This is a fascinating insight. We should reflect that for at least 50

years, the best-funded agricultural researchers are the ones work to

maximize yield -- that is, gross output per acre. Even now, the Bill &

Melinda Gates Foundation is expending hundreds of millions of dollars

in an effort to increase yields in Africa.

 

Rather than isolate and fetishize yield, perhaps ag researchers should

learn to take a whole-systems approach: study how communities can

develop robust food systems that build healthy soil and produce

nutritious food.

 

(It should also be noted that last year the Organic Center compiled

peer-reviewed studies finding that organically grown produce tends to

deliver significantly higher nutrient levels than conventional.)

 

" Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we.

They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and

neither do we. "

--George W. Bush