April 18th, 2022 - Have Fruits and Vegetables Become Less Nutritious?

It is my18th post in the Earth Month challenge, and maybe this one can be a bit controversial. I talked to my niece, and she mentioned that she had recently read that the amount of vitamin A in one orange ~40 years back is now derived from 8 oranges mainly because of soil deterioration. You might think this could happen with all we have talked about concerning industrial farming, soil health, regenerative and organic agriculture. But it sounded a bit dramatic. We know that soil health and other issues are happening but are there issues with nutrients in fruits and vegetables? Would this not create a bigger problem with nutrition?


I did a simple Monday evening research and read a few articles. So to be transparent, I am not an expert, as I have said in all my posts, and neither is this detailed research. I searched for peer-reviewed articles and studies to see if this was true. So I would love to hear your thoughts on this as well. 

An often-cited Scientific American article cites 3 studies and claims that crops grown decades ago were much richer in vitamins and minerals than the varieties most of us get today because of soil depletion. They talk about carrots, but other studies discuss protein content in beans and the Vitamin A in oranges. A non-peer-reviewed recent post (2021) disputes this claim. A review article (2016) from the Bureau of Nutritional Sciences, Food Directorate, Health Canada, which I am assuming is peer-reviewed, clearly disputes this claim of nutrient depletion. The authors conclude that the mineral nutrient content of fruits and vegetables is not declining and that some high-yield varieties show a dilution effect of lower mineral concentrations. 


However, there is work going on in understanding overall nutrient depletion. A study from the University of Massachusets, Amherst, focused on nutrient depletion in soil and studied the difference between chemical, organic, and compost-based fertilizers. Fruits and vegetables grown using quick-releasing chemical fertilizer were equally nutrient-dense to those produced with slower-acting organic fertilizer. Trailing behind was compost, which is effective long-term but may require several years to build up the soil. They want to discover whether the mineral content of nutrient-dense varieties can be boosted even more with vigorous fertilization and if a plant’s nutrient components can be enhanced in the soil as they have been when grown hydroponically. 


With the war in Ukraine and the tremendous increase in chemical fertilizer prices, there could be more emphasis on organic fertilizers like manure to achieve the same nutrient density. Manure versus fertilizer which I cite in this reference, is a topic for another day. Biological fertilizers and prebiotics can also activate the soil microbiome to make more nutrients available to the plant. So I am sure much more research exists and needs to be done on this crucial aspect. I am going to try to learn more about this subject. 


Everyone agrees that, ultimately, not eating enough (already very nutritious) fruit and vegetables is much more of a problem than any minor changes in nutritional composition that may (or may not have) occurred over time. So eat your veggies and fruits!


What do you think? 

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