Industrially Farmed Foods Have Lower Nutritional Content

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PHOTO: ISTOCK PHOTO/WOJTEK KRYCZKA
Plant breeders have increased yields in most crops, but this is causing our food’s nutritional content to decline.

The commercially grown vegetables, fruits, and grains that we are eating today have significantly lower nutritional content than these foods had 100 years ago, or even just 30 years ago. We now have solid, scientific evidence of this troubling trend. For example:

  • In wheat and barley, protein concentrations declined by 30 to 50 percent between the years 1938 and 1990.
  • Likewise, a study of 45 corn varieties developed from 1920 to 2001, grown side by side, found that the concentrations of protein, oil, and three amino acids have all declined in the newer varieties.
  • Six minerals have declined by 22 to 39 percent in 14 widely grown wheat varieties developed over the past 100 years.
  • Published on May 6, 2009
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