YOU and Research showing soil depletion of vitamins & nutrients
This is from scientific American:
The main culprit in the disturbing nutritional trend is soil depletion:
modern intensive agricultural methods have stripped increasing
amounts of nutrients from the soil in which the food we eat grows.
Each successive general of fast-growing, pest-resistant carrot is
truly less good for you than the one before
A landmark study on the topic by Donald Davis and his team of
researchers from the University of Texas(UT) at Austin’s
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry was published in
December 2004 in the Journal of the American College of
Nutrition. They studied U.S Department of Agriculture nutritional
Data from both 195 and 1999 for 43 different vegetables and
fruits, finding “reliable declines” in the amount of protein,
calcium, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin(vitamin B2)and vitamin c over
the past half century. Davis and his colleagues chalk up this
declining nutritional content to the preponderance of agricultural
practices designed to improve traits,(size, growth rate, pest
resistance other than nutrition.
I am adding that since this study there has probably added items
for “SHELF LIFE”.
The organic Consumers Association cites several other studies
with similar findings. A Kushi Institute analysis of nutrient date
from 1975 to 1997 found that average calcium levels in 12 fresh
vegetables dropped 27 percent, iron levels 37%, vitamin A levels
21%, and vitamin C levels 30%. There was a British Food Journal
also. One study concluded that one has to eat eight oranges
today to derive the same amount of Vitamin A as our
grandparents would have gotten from ONE>
The following is by:
Michael Karr, Ph.D
ARCPACS Certified Professional Soil Scientist
Mineral nutrient depletion continues to be a problem in U. S. farm,
forest, and range soils. The depletion is caused by natural
processes, such as weathering and erosion, particularly in the
sensitive soils of the southeastern United States. More
significantly, throughout the United States, human accelerated
depletion is caused by the production of high yield crops and
livestock grazing. Those activities cause nutrients to be removed
and organic matter to be depleted from the soil;s natural cycling
system. Moreover, when commercial growers attempt to
replenish the soils of only some mineral nutrients by fertilization
they may exacerbate mineral nutrient imbalances. While methods
exist to replenish the soil of its mineral nutrients there is a relative
lack of knowledge on how to identify all deficiencies and to fully
correct them. In addition, the lack of an economic incentive to
implement long term, soil-building solutions perpetuates the
relative fragility and inconsistency of US soils nutrient supplying
power
