Grandma’s cooking tasted so good for a reason
The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, shows that the nutrient content of farm grown fruits and vegetables has declined over the past half a century.
The study compared US Department of Agriculture data from 1950 and 1999 for 13 nutrients in 43 crops. The researchers found that, on average, all three minerals and two of five vitamins have declined. The protein content of the evaluated crops has decreased by 6 percent.
The researchers concluded that “decades of selecting food crops for high yield, with resulting inadvertent trade-offs of reduced nutrient concentrations… For many decades agronomists have cited ‘the dilution effect’ to describe reduced nutrient concentrations caused by intensive agricultural practices.”
Many have already suspected that traditionally grown crops often have better flavour and taste than commercially grown varieties. As this study suggests, in many cases the traditionally grown fruits and vegetables may also be more nutritious.
