The way our crops are harvested is destroying our essential nutrients

Essential nutrients are lost because of the way our foods are harvested. In order to keep crops fresher longer, so they can be transported long distances, many are harvested early, before they develop their full nutritional content.

Tomatoes are a good example. Because they bruise easily, tomatoes are harvested green, while they are still firm. This way, their shipping and shelf life can be extended. To turn them red, the harvested tomatoes are gassed with ethylene.

In nature, as a tomato ripens on the vine, it develops an abundance of the red phytonutrient lycopene, which gives it its beautiful color. Artificially ripened tomatoes, by contrast, develop almost no lycopene. (Lycopene consumption has been linked with decreased risk for prostate cancer.)

Just like tomatoes, many of our fruits are artificially ripened including bananas, strawberries, citrus fruits and mangoes, dramatically reducing their nutritional value – not to mention their flavor. Artificially extending the shelf life of produce leads to further nutrient loss. The longer a head of broccoli or iceberg lettuce sits on the supermarket shelf, the fewer nutrients it will have when you finally eat it.

A study by biochemist, Donald Davis, at the University of Texas included 13 major nutrients tracked by the U.S. Agriculture Department from 1950 to 1999. Davis founded that of the 13, six nutrients in particular showed noticeable declines.

They were: protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin and vitamin C. The most dramatic loss was riboflavin, which decreased by 38 percent. Researchers like Davis have estimated that, to get the same amount of vitamin A from a serving of broccoli consumed in the 1950s, you would have to eat more than double that amount.

Unfortunately, simply doubling our intake of fruits and vegetables is not the answer. No matter how many servings of fruits and vegetables we eat, we can still find ourselves deficient in certain nutrients if they are missing from our soils.

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