Less Tasty & Not As Good For You - Industrially grown produce shows long-term nutritional decline

Less tasty -- and not as good for you
Industrially grown produce shows long-term nutritional decline
by Tom Philpott
28 Jan 2009

http://gristmill.grist.org/print/2009/1/27/165445/631?show_comments=no
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2009/1/27/165445/631?source=daily

Talk to old-timers, and they'll often tell you that the tomatoes you find in supermarket produce sections don't taste anything like the ones they had in their childhoods in the '30s and '40s.

Turns out, they're probably not as nutritious, either.

In an article [PDF] published in the February 2009 issue of the HortScience Review, University of Texas researcher Donald R. Davis compiles evidence that points to declines in nutrition in vegetables and (to a lesser extent) fruits over the past few decades.

For example:

[T]hree recent studies of historical food composition data found apparent median declines of 5% to 40% or more in some minerals in groups of vegetables and perhaps fruits; one study also evaluated vitamins and protein with similar results.

He points to another study in which researchers planted low- and high-yielding varieties of broccoli and grain side-by-side. The high-yielding varieties showed less protein and minerals.

The principle seems to be that when plants are nudged to produce as much as possible -- whether through lots of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides or through selective breeding -- they deliver fewer nutrients. It evidently isn't just the flavor that's become diluted in those bland supermarket tomatoes.

This is a fascinating insight. We should reflect that for at least 50 years, the best-funded agricultural researchers are the ones work to maximize yield -- that is, gross output per acre. Even now, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is expending hundreds of millions of dollars in an effort to increase yields in Africa.

Rather than isolate and fetishize yield, perhaps ag researchers should learn to take a whole-systems approach: study how communities can develop robust food systems that build healthy soil and produce nutritious food.

(It should also be noted that last year the Organic Center compiled peer-reviewed studies finding that organically grown produce tends to deliver significantly higher nutrient levels than conventional.)

The Top 12 Most Contaminated Fruits and Vegetables

source: fredericpatenaude.com">fredericpatenaude.com

"The Top 12 Most Contaminated Fruits & Vegetables"

by Frederic Patenaude

We know that pesticides are definitely dangerous to human health. We also know that one of the best things we can do to avoid pesticides is to consume organic food. However, this isn't always possible due to several restraints: availability, price, etc.

There's another thing we can do, however, to reduce our pesticide exposure: avoid the fruits and vegetables that are the most contaminated.

When organic is not available, eat fruits and vegetables with consistently low pesticide loads.

It's been shown that you can lower your pesticide exposure simply by avoiding the top 12 most contaminated types of fruit and vegetables, and eating the least contaminated instead.

Eating the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables will expose a person to nearly 20 pesticides per day, on average. Eating the 12 least contaminated will expose a person to a fraction over 2 pesticides per day.

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The Black List
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So, what are the most contaminated fruits and vegetables? Here's the black list, according to the most recent data analysed:

---> The top 4 are fruits, in the following order:

#1 (Most Contaminated): Peach
#2: Strawberry
#3: Apple
#4: Nectarine

---> The other highly contaminated fruits in the top 12 are:

#5 Pears
#6 Cherrie
#7 Red raspberries
#8 Imported grapes (Chile, Mexico, etc.)

Some of these fruits, such as peaches and nectarines and raspberries, can contain up to 45 different pesticides! Overall, studies show that those fruits have a high chance of being contaminated with a good number of different pesticide residues.

As for the vegetables, those that are the most likely to expose you to pesticide residues are:

#1 Celery
#2 Spinach
#3 Potatoes
#4 Sweet Bell Pepper

Those vegetables have a high chance of containing pesticide residues, some of them containing several!

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The Least Contaminated Produce
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---> Now, for the "good" vegetables, here's the top, least contaminated, in order of purity:

- Sweet corn
- Avocado
- Cauliflower
- Asparagus
- Onions
- Peas
- Broccoli

---> The least contaminated fruits are:

- Pineapples
- Mangoes
- Bananas
- Kiwi
- Papaya


Very few mangoes and pineapple have pesticide residues on them, and when they do they usually contain only one type. Bananas do often contain pesticide residues, but rarely multiple ones.

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Conclusion
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To avoid pesticides, the best thing is to consume organic foods. When that is not possible, select the foods that have the least pesticides on them, and avoid those on the "black list."

---> Other importance tricks to help reduce our pesticide exposure:

* Peel non-organic fruits, whenever possible*: That means pears, apples, etc. I know many nutritionists say that the peel contains the most vitamins, but it isn't quite true. The peel of fruits is indigestible, so even though it may contain many vitamins, they are not assimilated as well as the vitamins in the flesh of the fruits.

*Wash your produce with a non-toxic soap*. You can buy a non-toxic soap for washing produce in most health food stores. Use this soap to wash your non-organic peaches, or other fruits if you happen to buy them.

Remember however that eating non-organic fruits and vegetables is still better than drinking organic beer or eating organic pizza!