The red ripe tomatoes, crisp green lettuce, and dark green broccoli you inspect as you stroll down the produce section of your supermarket are imposters, fakes, frauds, forged counterfeits masquerading as real vegetables — you may as well be eating plastic replicas.
Half of the zinc, iron, and magnesium in store-bought vegetables have vanished, along with protein, amino acids and potassium. The concentration of all these vital nutrients have been diluted beyond recognition. And if you’re consuming canned vegetables the nutritional content is basically non existent. Your grandmother’s vegetables were twice and nutritious as the ones we buy today.
Why has the quality of our produce been annihilated? What caused this debasement of value in modern crops?commercial mass production. The proliferation of chemically enhanced pesticides and fertilizers to accelerate crop harvest has bastardized our fruits and vegetables to such an extent that our food has become illegitimate.
The so-called advanced methods used in selective breeding to increase crop yields diminishes “protein and amino acids, and in one study as many as six minerals in commercial broccoli grown in 1996 and ’97 in South Carolina”. And when breeders selectively breed for one trait, like say yield, the narrow focus on that one specific trait corrupts the natural balance of other plant functions. How many times and ways has it been said that you just don’t fool with Mother Nature?
Rushing the inherent growth cycle of crops robs them of the naturally designated time it takes to absorb nutrients from the soil. Crops grown with this advance steroid-type technique may grow larger and faster, but they’re unable to acquire nutrients at the same warp speed through synthesis or soil absorption.
Agricultural researchers have studied the aspects of these nutritional depletion events as well as the negative effects of selective breeding for decades. The “Dilution Effect”was explored in a 1981 review in “Advances in Agronomy”and suggests yield-raising methods of irrigation and fertilization severely diminish nutritional concentrations.
“Numerous studies have demonstrated,”writes, Charles Benbrook, Chief scientist and sustainable agriculture expert for The Organic Center, “that high levels of nitrogen stimulate quick growth and increase crop yields because the fruits and vegetables take up more water. In effect, this means consumers pay more for produce diluted with water. High nitrogen levels make plants grow fast and bulk up with carbohydrates and water. While the fruits these plants produce may be big, they suffer in nutritional quality”
Additionally, Donald R. Davis discusses what’s called the “Genetic Dilution Effect”in “Declining Fruit and Vegetable Nutrient Composition: What Is the Evidence?”
Davis writes: “In fruits, vegetables, and grains, usually 80% to 90% of the dry weight yield is carbohydrate. Thus, when breeders select for high yield, they are, in effect, selecting mostly for high carbohydrate with no assurance that dozens of other nutrients and thousands of phytochemicals will all increase in proportion to yield. Thus, genetic dilution effects seem unsurprising.’
It’s well-known among most nutritional experts that vitamins and minerals obtained naturally in fruits and vegetable are far superior to synthetic store-bought supplements and both are critical in the prevention of disease and the promotion of good health maintenance in general. Now is the time to buy organicbetter yet, now is the time to grow your own organic food. If you don’t have access to land, network with friends, family members, or community organizers. Don’t buy food imposters. You deserve the real thing.