The average modern bout vegetable inducement has done a miraculous job of feeding massive amounts of people on a mammoth scale. The trade off, however, seems to be at the equivalent of optimal taste and take out. During tough economic times, it can be a rather daunting task to find the best nutritional value for your family ' s budget, when it comes to fresh vegetables, in super - sized grocery stores.
According to Donald R. Davis, a former research associate with the Biochemical Institute at the University of Texas, Austin claims, " there is good a nearness between the high and low yield varieties, and in the varying amount of nutrients they contain. "
What is commonly known, today, as the ' genetic dilution effect ', was first discovered and published in a 1981 study conducted by W. M. Jarrell and R. B. Beverly in the " Advances In Agronomy ". What has been less studied, are the nutritional effects of selective genetic breeding of plant foods chosen specifically for higher yields.
In 1996 and ' 97 ', a study was performed in South Carolina using a variety of broccoli chosen for its high yields. It was shown that selective genetic breeding lead to a loss of protein, amino acids, and as many as six different minerals. Davis says, " jumbo sizing the end product is no assurance of increased nutrition and is, in effect, winding up with more dry matter that dilutes mineral concentrations, making for a nutritionally emptier food source. "
Loss of important nutrients can also be attributed to the industrialization of agriculture that relies, heavily, on chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and rushed harvesting techniques. When plant foods are harvested earlier, the plant has had less time to take up minerals from the soil it needs to go through its natural synthesis process.
Farming practices such as those mentioned above, along with lack of crop rotations, has led to over using soils to the point of mineral depletion. Not only do plants need a wide variety of nutrients to grow healthy, we need them to be in the plant food source, in abundance, so they are naturally healthy for us to eat.
It is estimated that there is somewhere between 5 to 40 percent less protein and minerals in commercially grown vegetables, when compared to organic or locally grown produce. Fifty years ago, this was less of a problem than it has become today, and it is uncertain how much fruits are effected when compared to vegetables.
As intimidating as this information like this may sound to you, don ' t let it shake you up so much. This may be one reason why nutritional health experts have recently started recommending 7 to 9 servings a day ( or more ) of this important food group. The old recommended 5 a day guideline has suddenly become outdated.
Realistically, what can we do to increase our benefits of adding more fruit and vegetable nutrition to our daily diets? Well, you can try growing a small vegetable garden. If you don ' t have the green thumb know how, then the simplest alternative is to shop as organically and locally as you possibly can.
