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Showing posts with label Nutrition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nutrition. Show all posts

Sunday, 5 September 2010

Mineral depletion of food over time.

Did you know?

“A study published in 2003[viii] looked at the composition of conventionally grown foods in Britain between 1941 and 1991. Over this 50-year period, the foods studied, including vegetables, fruits, meats and dairy products lost an average of 40% of their mineral content. For example:
                                             Carrots                       Potatoes                          Meat

Magnesium                            75% less                     30% less                         10% less

Calcium                                 48% less                     35% less                          41% less

Iron                                       46% less                     45% less                           54% less

Copper                                  75% less                      47% less                          24% less

In Britain, the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides increased dramatically after the second world war (after the first food composition table was published in 1941). Hand in hand with increased artificial fertilizer use goes loss of organic matter, humus, and structure in soils.

A study comparing US Department of Agriculture figures concluded that in 2001, fruits and vegetables in the US had only half the level of vitamins they had in 1963.”

[viii] Thomas D, A Study on the Mineral Depletion of the Foods Available to us as a Nation Over the Period 1940-1991, Nutrition and Health, Vol 17, No 2, 2003 (the Journal of the McCarrison Society for Nutrition and Health)

[ix] Faloon, W, Vegetables Without Vitamins, Life Extension Magazine, March 2001.

http://www.bdgrowing.com/default.asp?action=page&catID=12&pageID=31