The nutritional value of the fruits and vegetables that we buy in the grocery store is diminishing.
In 2004, Donald Davis, PhD, a former researcher with the Biochemical Institute at the University of Texas, Austin, led a team that analyzed 43 fruits and vegetables from 1950 to 1999 and reported reductions in vitamins, minerals, and protein. Using USDA data, he found that broccoli, for example, had 130 mg of calcium in 1950. Today, that number is only 48 mg. What’s going on? Davis believes it’s due to the farming industry’s desire to grow bigger vegetables faster. The very things that speed growth — selective breeding and synthetic fertilizers — decrease produce’s ability to synthesize nutrients or absorb them from the soil.
So we’re getting larger produce cheaper and faster but with a third of the nutrients.
The opposite is true of organically grown produce.
“By avoiding synthetic fertilizers, organic farmers put more stress on plants, and when plants experience stress, they protect themselves by producing phytochemicals,” explains Alyson Mitchell, PhD, a professor of nutrition science at the University of California, Davis. Her 10-year study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry showed that organic tomatoes can have as much as 30 percent more phytochemicals than conventional ones.
I’ve heard all of this before, but this is the first time I’ve seen data to back it up. It reinforces my committment to provide my family with healthy food by growing our own fruits and vegetables, buying organic and buying locally raised grass-fed beef.
Nutritional Value of Fruits and Veggies is Dwindling, Sarah Burns, MSNBC, July 9, 2010
Hi, I’m Cathy! I’m a former career-driven professional turned stay-at-home mom. Living on one salary has its challenges, but it is possible to live the good life while spending less. Cool to be Frugal is all about how we’re thriving, not just surviving, on a single income.
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Great information! I’ve been looking for something like this for a while now. Thanks!
We grew some of our own veggies when we lived in the Northeast and it was great. But, we need to learn to can so we can save some of our food through the winter. There’s so much that we have discarded from the past because of industrialization but it does lead to healthier living and saves a bunch of money. I like to buy organic but there are so many that say ‘organic’ that there’s so insurance that you are certain you’re getting what they say you’re getting. It’s just not that regulated yet.
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