February 3, 2005 – The nutritional value of fruits and vegetables has been depleted over the past 50 years, according to American biochemists. The latter cite modern agricultural techniques as the most plausible cause of this decline.1.
It was using nutritional data obtained from the US Federal Department of Agriculture that the researchers carried out the analysis of 43 varieties of fruits and vegetables. Aside from a few fruits, including melon and strawberries, the data mainly concerned vegetables.
They observed that the content of six main nutrients, namely protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin and ascorbic acid (vitamin C), decreased significantly from 1950 to 1999, for each one. of the varieties analyzed: from asparagus to turnips, including carrots, peas and spinach. The extent of the losses varies, for example, from 6% for protein to 38% for riboflavin.
How is it that vegetables can no longer provide as many good vitamins and minerals as they did half a century ago? The authors of the study point out that over the past 50 years, agricultural production has undergone a real revolution. The selection or creation of varieties of vegetables and fruits aimed above all at improving their resistance or their growth, but rarely that of their nutritional content. The authors hypothesize that the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables may have suffered from these techniques as well as soil degradation caused by intensive agricultural practices.
The authors want research of the same kind, but focusing on other foods such as meat or milk, to assess the real impact of cultivation and breeding methods on the nutrient content of food. In the era of genetic modification in the agrifood world, this wish will certainly resonate with a growing number of researchers and consumers.
Marie france Coutu – PasseportSanté.net
According to the Science-Presse Agency.
1. Davis DR, Epp MD, Riordan HD, Changes in USDA food composition data for 43 garden crops, 1950 to 1999, Journal of the American College of Nutrition, December 2004, Vol. 23, No 6, 669-82.
