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Have Fruits and Vegetables Become Less Nutritious? (2011)

scientificamerican.com

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Re: Have Fruits and Vegetables Become Less Nutritious? (2011)

#71

Post by feralimal »

riffraff wrote: post #57
feralimal wrote: post #33

Well, colour me shocked!! Modern farming doesn't produce as nutritious fruit and vegetables as that of the past. (Where everything was organic, and the land was managed sensibly.) Maybe we need to 'fortify' our veg, by adding calcium (chalk), and iron (fine iron filings) to it!

> Where everything was organic, and the land was managed sensibly my father, and everyone else in my home town, had his vegetable garden. It was not "organic growth", not even in the insane legal sense where giving bordeaux mixture[0] is considered organic farming. His stuff still tasted great, because it's not "inorganic" that make things tasteless, it's specific industrial production and distribution processes. [0]…

I agree. I actually don't think organic is as good as whatever natural methods were used. I would prefer wild or food grown on less 'managed' land - that would be the gold standard for me.

Re: Have Fruits and Vegetables Become Less Nutritious? (2011)

#72

Post by dawidw »

colechristensen wrote: post #62
dawidw wrote: post #60

That's why I take supplements on daily basis. Once a year I do health check and add supplements till their level is correct. Besides there is problem with GMO and pesticides. Later on we all have to pay for that with our health. Ideally would be to have own food from own farm where you decide and control how to treat vegetables.

Why would genetic modification to add resistance to a pest or herbicide have anything to do with nutrition?

Due to GMO you have vegetable much bigger but with the same amount of vitamins and minerals.

So, for example, if new generation fruit is 20% bigger, you're lacking that amount of nutrition in your diet.

And pesticides: if there were healthy for our bodies, we would eat them for our advantages, wouldn't we?

Re: Have Fruits and Vegetables Become Less Nutritious? (2011)

#73

Post by vladvasiliu »

petargyurov wrote: post #13
punnerud wrote: post #5

Blueberries that taste the same but are transparent in the middle. Tomatoes that tase water. Cucumber that look great and almost tasteless. You don't know what you are missing if you have never tasted the "real" deal.

I am certain that a vast majority of people have never tasted a "real" tomato. Here in the UK (though I'm sure this applies globally), tomatoes sold in supermarkets taste like plastic. Reason being is that they are picked when they are green and they "ripen" by the time they get to the store shelf. This is done because tomatoes are almost impossible to transfer safely in large quantities, because when they are ripe t…

I think it's not just that produce is picked unripe. As some sibling commenters say, there might be more to it. Either genetic, through selection, or chemical, through whatever they put in the soil for it to grow bigger / quicker.

The issue I have with most store-bought produce is that it has practically no taste whatsoever. It tastes like water. Tomatoes taste like water. Peppers taste like water. I've never had store-bought berries (of any kind) taste anything.

I've noticed that when you pick an unripe tomato, or cherry, or grape, or whatever, they actually have a taste. Not a very good taste, I wouldn't like eating unripe cherries.

However, the same things from a supermarket have practically no taste. I've never had produce picked from my mother or grandparents' garden taste like water. If they're unripe, they'll taste bitter, sour, something. They will absolutely have some kind of actual taste.

Re: Have Fruits and Vegetables Become Less Nutritious? (2011)

#74

Post by dejv »

petargyurov wrote: post #13
punnerud wrote: post #5

Blueberries that taste the same but are transparent in the middle. Tomatoes that tase water. Cucumber that look great and almost tasteless. You don't know what you are missing if you have never tasted the "real" deal.

I am certain that a vast majority of people have never tasted a "real" tomato. Here in the UK (though I'm sure this applies globally), tomatoes sold in supermarkets taste like plastic. Reason being is that they are picked when they are green and they "ripen" by the time they get to the store shelf. This is done because tomatoes are almost impossible to transfer safely in large quantities, because when they are ripe t…

Well, even growing your own tomatoes might not help that much. Modern hybrid varietals are breeded for color uniformity which removed the taste. Let me tell you it is quite hard to source real heirloom varietals: there are tons of new "heirloom" varietals, but those are basically just modern varietals with some mutations that makes them not look like industrial ones.

Re: Have Fruits and Vegetables Become Less Nutritious? (2011)

#75

Post by fogihujy »

Thlom wrote: post #64
camhart wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strawberries in the USA are huge. Sometimes they remind me of an Apple. Go to Denmark--they're small but packed full of flavor. I would much rather have the smaller ones. I wonder if the large, crisp, apple-esc strawberries really sell better. They're certainly bigger.

Best strawberries in the world are found in a small valley on the west coast of Norway where the combination of late summer, cool nights and long summer days with lots of sunlight makes for a long ripening process and perfect strawberries.

Finnish strawberries are clearly superior! ;)

Jokes aside, my personal experience is that strawberries grown in some grandmother's garden in a Nordic country, including Denmark, will beat the mass-produced stuff in the stores when it comes to taste. I can't imagine the same wouldn't apply to Canadian or Russian strawberries, grown under similar conditions, as well.

Re: Have Fruits and Vegetables Become Less Nutritious? (2011)

#76

Post by [deleted] »

kleiba wrote: post #11

I would argue that it's less relevant whether produce has become less nutritious than in previous years, but that the more relevant question is whether it is still nutritious enough . There's not point in having excess vitamins, say, if most of it will not even be absorbed by your body. That said, a second question is where the current trend is going to lead then. If we are on a steady decline in nutritiousness of ou…

[deleted]

Re: Have Fruits and Vegetables Become Less Nutritious? (2011)

#77

Post by bitL »

petargyurov wrote: post #13
punnerud wrote: post #5

Blueberries that taste the same but are transparent in the middle. Tomatoes that tase water. Cucumber that look great and almost tasteless. You don't know what you are missing if you have never tasted the "real" deal.

I am certain that a vast majority of people have never tasted a "real" tomato. Here in the UK (though I'm sure this applies globally), tomatoes sold in supermarkets taste like plastic. Reason being is that they are picked when they are green and they "ripen" by the time they get to the store shelf. This is done because tomatoes are almost impossible to transfer safely in large quantities, because when they are ripe t…

> Reason being is that they are picked when they are green and they "ripen" by the time they get to the store shelf.

I think the reason is that those tomatoes never saw anything resembling soil or sunlight; they are grown in some fertilized solution inside a greenhouse and propelled to a rapid growth.

Re: Have Fruits and Vegetables Become Less Nutritious? (2011)

#79

Post by magicalhippo »

petargyurov wrote: post #13
punnerud wrote: post #5

Blueberries that taste the same but are transparent in the middle. Tomatoes that tase water. Cucumber that look great and almost tasteless. You don't know what you are missing if you have never tasted the "real" deal.

I am certain that a vast majority of people have never tasted a "real" tomato. Here in the UK (though I'm sure this applies globally), tomatoes sold in supermarkets taste like plastic. Reason being is that they are picked when they are green and they "ripen" by the time they get to the store shelf. This is done because tomatoes are almost impossible to transfer safely in large quantities, because when they are ripe t…

> tomatoes sold in supermarkets taste like plastic

Here in Norway you can get quite tasty tomatoes sold in supermarkets. Here's[1] a "blog" article from one of them. There are other brands and tomato variants.

Of course they cost slightly more than the ones we import from wherever but the taste more than make up for it.

That said, I've never tasted a "real" tomato so not sure how close they come.

[1]: https://coop.no/mega/kjokkenhagen/verdens-soteste-tomater-dy...

Re: Have Fruits and Vegetables Become Less Nutritious? (2011)

#80

Post by 3131s »

colechristensen wrote: post #62
dawidw wrote: post #60

That's why I take supplements on daily basis. Once a year I do health check and add supplements till their level is correct. Besides there is problem with GMO and pesticides. Later on we all have to pay for that with our health. Ideally would be to have own food from own farm where you decide and control how to treat vegetables.

Why would genetic modification to add resistance to a pest or herbicide have anything to do with nutrition?

With more resistance to pesticides and herbicides, farmers can add more of these substances to plants, and that will incidentally kill other lifeforms in the soil ecosystem that affect the nutritional content of the soil.
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