Study: Today's vegetables provide half the nutritional value they did in the 1960s

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A new study has revealed that the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables has decreased by up to 50% since the 1960s, due to deteriorating soil quality.

Researchers at Deep Science Ventures found that people need to eat twice the amount of vegetables to get the same levels of minerals - such as potassium, magnesium and copper - that were available in food 60 years ago.

The study also showed that many crops lost between 20% and 50% of some essential nutrients, the British newspaper The Telegraph reported on Wednesday.

“For 60 years, we have measured food security based on calories and productivity (in tons) per hectare,” said Will Summers, a senior company official.

He added: "We have achieved excellent results according to these standards, but in return we have gradually and silently emptied our food of its true nutritional value."

This decline in levels of nutrients and vitamins is due to deteriorating soil quality and selective breeding of crops that focused on speed of growth rather than on health benefits.

This will have a particularly noticeable impact on the 14% of Britons who follow a vegetarian or vegan diet.

Summers told The Telegraph that peas, carrots and onions were among the vegetables affected by the change.

This situation raises the possibility of a need to update the popular health advice to eat five portions of fruits and vegetables a day, which was implemented in the United Kingdom in 2003.

The report also indicated that people who take weight-loss medications may be most at risk of nutrient deficiencies, since these treatments may prompt them to eat smaller amounts of food.

“As weight-loss medications reduce the amount of food people eat, the nutritional quality of each bite becomes much more important,” Summers said. Deep Science Ventures has estimated that up to five million adults in the UK undergoing weight loss treatment may be deficient in essential vitamins and minerals as a result.

Mineral deficiencies, such as zinc, may weaken the immune system, while low potassium levels may raise the risk of stroke by up to 21%.

The researchers believe that environmentally friendly farming techniques - such as growing crops that return nutrients to the soil - could contribute to enhancing the health benefits of vegetables.

In this context, Cheanne Ferguson, from the Mark Leonard Trust, which participated in preparing the report, said: “Healthy soil is the foundation of healthy food.

“This report shows that restoring soil health is one of the few measures that can increase nutrient density and improve production rates.”

The Mark Leonard Trust was established by the Sainsbury family to, among other things, finance projects related to agriculture.

Ferguson pointed out that farmers need support to shift to more environmentally friendly agricultural methods, with the aim of improving soil quality.

The farmers expressed their dissatisfaction last month; They were unable to renew government grants for environmentally friendly agriculture, after the funding budget - amounting to 235 million pounds - ran out in less than six hours.