Grocery store Vegetables are not as nutritious as they used to be?
“University of Texas, Austin. Davis claims the average vegetable found in today’s supermarket is anywhere from 5% to 40% lower in minerals (including magnesium, iron, calcium and zinc) than those harvested just 50 years ago.”
Not only are those vegetables you been eating at the grocery store less tasty, but may be getting marginal nutritional value. They discuss some of the potential factors in this including use for synthetic fertilizer and the desire to achieve higher yield during a shorter timetable, unfortunately the poor plants do not have time to absorb the beneficial minerals (as do we)
This article is timely with my Chemistry of Gardening – What nutrients do plants need? post. If you have sufficient primary macronutrients (NPK) which is the primary contents on synthetic fertilizer you can still have great yields and fast growing plants but quality of plants are reduced. What the problem appears to me, is the secondary macronutrients are not being supplemented (magnesium, iron, calcium and zinc) which is causing the nutrient/taste deficiency. Organic methods natural provide these nutrients by the addition of organic matter to the soil.
I am cheap and organic vegetables are expensive, this is definitely a case of you get what you pay for. Hope is still here you can easily grow your own organic vegetables at home. If you still think growing your own vegetables is a bad idea here are a list of benefits from buying at the grocery store:
- Continue to rise in cost so you won’t have to worry what to do with your extra money
- No confusion with the small variety available (transport well)
- They don’t taste as good, so no guilt in enjoying eating your veggies
- Less of those pesky minerals for your body to absorb
- Opportunity of getting a trip to the ER after picking up salmonella
In all seriousness this is a scary development where people could be malnourished even with a decent supply of fruits and vegetables.
Related posts:
- Harvesting seeds from the grocery store – Update
- Harvesting seeds from the grocery store
- Chemistry of Gardening – What nutrients do plants need?
- Kids eating vegetables from the garden
- Cheap organic fertilizer for your lawn and garden
Tags: cheap, cilantro, organic vegetables, outdoor plants, vegetables
February 18th, 2009 at 8:26 PM
I knew it. Not only do the tomatoes look anemic, well it turns out they are!
February 18th, 2009 at 8:58 PM
Funny post…at least the “benefits” of buying grocery store vegetables! Why the advertisement in my Google Reader?
February 18th, 2009 at 10:24 PM
Robj98168, guess now we know.jimmycrackedcorn, Glad you enjoyed it. Not sure about advertising I don’t see anything on my side. Maybe google gave up on the “Don’t be Evil” thing.
February 19th, 2009 at 4:19 AM
unfortunately, no surprise here.
February 19th, 2009 at 4:22 AM
Isn’t that something! Crazy how they can zap out all the nutrition and still sell it to us. I like the ideal of not going to the E.R. please!
February 19th, 2009 at 4:52 AM
Sadly I’m not surprised either. Conventional fertilization really lacks so much in the way of nutrients for the plants. I’m wondering if they did any research on the nutrient content of organic vegetables.
February 19th, 2009 at 4:57 AM
Hmm got distracted and didn't finish my thought :> Anyway. I'd love to see a comparison. I'm wondering if it is just the nutrients given, or it also relates to how long it takes them to get to us before we eat them. Lettuce fresh from my garden can easily last three weeks in my fridge before rotting (I've had it last a month). I can only keep supermarket lettuce alive for a week and that is if I'm lucky. It is probably a combination of both nutrients given and time spent in transit (possibly under not ideal conditions).
February 19th, 2009 at 10:08 AM
Michael Pollan talked about this in his book In Defense of Food – pretty scary!
February 19th, 2009 at 9:03 PM
HarveyAvatar, same here but guess I wasn’t alive long enough to know if vegetables from from the grocery store ever tasted good or were nutrtious, though definately know the food from my backyard tastes better.Patrice, guess as long as it looks like a vegetable.Daphne, I would be curious of a comparison of nutrient contents of organic to conventional. Given I can get a full analysis of soil samples for $10 wonder what they would do if I sent them some shredded lettuce/carrots
Claire, will definately have to add that to my list…my list is getting long.
February 21st, 2009 at 1:25 AM
I have read similar studies here in England. Supermarkets just have to cut corners everywhere to make a profit don’t they?
March 1st, 2009 at 7:54 AM
I did a little more research and found another reference to this study about 2 years ago so definitely not breaking news, just on its second cycle I presume. Still haven’t found any good studies comparing nutritional value of conventional versus organic produce, though I know it must exist.
June 8th, 2010 at 1:52 AM
Interesting post. I’m a gardener myself, and I just stumbled upon your site.
Glad I found it