Are fruits and vegetables what they used to be

An apple a day is not enough…and never was!

More than a few studies have alluded to the fact that our fruits and vegetables these days are less nutritional than they used to be.  A number of environmental factors have impacted the nutritional quality of a large variety of crops including fruits and vegetable and grains including acid rain, over-harvested of the soil and organopesticide contamination. The reduced nutritional content of foods, a higher acid and pesticide content are all known to increase one’s risk of developing various diseases such as multiple sclerosis, lupus, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, hypothyroidism, osteoporosis and various cancers.

 

Acid rain and reduced nutritional content of soil

Acid rain has negatively affected crops and caused nutrient loss in the soil; this leads to loss of nutrition that is taken in by growing crops.  Human beings eat the nutritionally depleted crops and we ourselves become nutritionally depleted.  Inadequate nutritional intake is associated with increased risk of developing virtually all manner of chronic degenerative diseases including cancers, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, migraines, infertility, inflammatory bowel disease just to name a few.

Over-harvesting

The soil itself has been over-harvested meaning that over years of use and turnover of soil it becomes depleted in nutrition.  All crops growing upon depleted soil must therefore be depleted in nutritional content.  The pesticide and herbicides used in group processing both directly and indirectly affect nutritional content.  Foodstuffs now are transported great distances resulting in loss of nutritional content along the way; specifically if the foods are not frozen during transit. Freezing foods help to maintain their nutritional content.  Time itself from the harvesting of foodstuffs to their consumption at the table results in nutritional loss; the longer the time from harvest to consumption the lower the nutritional content. The overall production of more crops due to advancement in technologies has resulted in crops that are diluted in nutritional content; a greater yield of crops derived from the same soil will become progressively more and more depleted.

Goodbye selenium hello cancer!

People should be concerned about nutritional depletion of foodstuff because we as consumers of the foods will, and have, become nutritional deficient.  For example, the levels of selenium in soils is estimated to be entirely absent within the next five years increasing cancer risk and human susceptibility to oxidative diseases (virtually all degenerative diseases are oxidative in nature).

Foods close to home

We can get more nutrition out of fruits and vegetables, even those that are inherently deficient based on what I have written above, by consuming foods closer to the time of harvesting as opposed to waiting long periods.  Choosing to eat frozen foods as opposed to non-frozen (fresh) is best because non -frozen foods lose nutritional value faster than frozen.  This does not mean that fresh foods should not be consumed.

Cooking is not just cooking

We can cook our foods more slowly which reduces nutrient loss; cook our foods at lower temperatures which reduces nutrient loss; chew our foods thoroughly to break the plant cell walls of fruits and vegetables releasing nutrients; choose organically grown foodstuff that contain less toxic residues that actually require nutrients for the body to process and detoxify them; we can choose to consume foods that are grown locally as smaller farms are not as over-harvested such that the soil has a higher nutrient content; canned foods are lowest down on the forms of foods best for health generally speaking.

By Dr. Michael Wald (submitted for publication through Reporter Connection 2011)

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*DISCLAIMER: Dr. Michael Wald is a doctor of chiropractic with a masters degree in nutrition. He is also a Certified Dietitian Nutritionist and a Certified Nutritional Specialist and Sports Nutritionist. Dr. Wald is certified to provide acupuncture in several states, but not New York. Dr. Wald has two board certifications in nutrition. Dr. Michael Wald earned his MD diploma, but did not complete a residency and is thus not licensed to practice medicine. The information on this site is intended for educational purposes only and is not to substitute for sound medical or health advice. Information contained within this website may change at any time without prior notice. The information on this website is under copyright, 2021.