Meanwhile in Aisle 7

Meanwhile in Aisle 7Vegetables are now half as nutritious than 60 years ago. Experts have worked out why
Fewer than a third of wheat varieties used in bread released since the 1960s meet the recommended zinc target, due to poor soil quality
www.independent.co.u k/news/uk/home-news/ vegetables-nutrition -soil-quality-d
Wheat, apples and carrots are half as nutritious as they were in the 1960s, a new study has suggested.

 

Due to declining soil quality the nutrients in fruit and vegetables have also drastically declined.

 

The study, by researchers at Deep Science Ventures (DSV), found twice the number of fruit and vegetables need to be eaten today to get the same level of minerals such as potassium, magnesium or copper than 60 years ago.

 

Researchers found food such as cereals and bread, as well as carrots, apples and peas had lost 20 to 50 per cent of several key nutrients.

 

But reduced nutrients in crops combined with the rise of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, such as Ozempic and Mounjaro, could push around 5 million UK working-age adults below safe levels of essential vitamins and minerals, experts warn.

 

"For sixty years we've measured food security in calories and tonnes per hectare, and on those measures we've done remarkably well. But we've been quietly hollowing out what's inside our food," Will Summers, senior associate, climate at DSV said.

 

"As weight-loss drugs mean people eat less, the nutritional quality of every bite starts to matter much more. The good news is that we already have the tools to fix this, in breeding, soil health, markets and policy. What's been missing is the recognition that this problem is worth measuring and solving at its source."

 

The study argues that decades of breeding and farming to increase yield have reduced many nutrients in crops.
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