Image by 46137 via FlickrAmong the reasons are:
Soil depletion reduces the nutrient content. In many areas of the world the land has been overfarmed without putting back enough nutrients on the land, or the soil is just of low quality.
Hybrid crops provide lower-nutrient food. These are used everywhere today, even on organic farms. They yield more food per acre, but the crops often have a much lower nutrient content than those grown 100 years ago.
For example, ten times as much rice or wheat are grown on the same land as was grown there 100 years ago. As a result, in part, today's wheat contains about 6% protein whereas 100 years ago it contained 12-14%. Trace mineral levels are similarly much lower due to high-yield farming methods.
For example, ten times as much rice or wheat are grown on the same land as was grown there 100 years ago. As a result, in part, today's wheat contains about 6% protein whereas 100 years ago it contained 12-14%. Trace mineral levels are similarly much lower due to high-yield farming methods.
Modern fertilizers do not supply enough trace elements. One hundred years ago, manures were used extensively for fertilizer. Today, superphosphate fertilizers have largely replaced manures. These contain mainly nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus and are deficient in the trace elements contained in manures.
Superphosphates often act more as growth stimulants. This has contributed greatly to depletion of the soil and crop minerals. This includes organically grown food, although it is much better.
Superphosphates often act more as growth stimulants. This has contributed greatly to depletion of the soil and crop minerals. This includes organically grown food, although it is much better.
Pesticides and herbicides damage soil microorganisms and reduce the nutrition of the crops. Soil microorganisms are needed to make minerals and other nutrients available to plants. The result of damage due to their use is often much lower nutrient content. Also, our bodies require extra nutrients to process pesticide residues that remain inside the foods.
Many pesticides are deadly chemicals that severely tax the human system. Some contain lead, arsenic and other toxic metals that slowly accumulate in the body unless and until one follows a health program designed to remove them.
Our laws currently allow sewage and even factory sludge to be sold as fertilizer that contains significant quantities of toxic metals. These add greatly to our toxic metal burden and requires that we take in nutrients to help remove them from the body.
Long-distance transportation of many foods diminishes their nutrition. As soon as a food is harvested, the levels of certain nutrients begin to diminish. Today, many foods are grown thousands of miles from population centers. They may spend a week on a truck or a train before they reach you.
Food processing often drastically reduces nutrient content. For example, the refining of wheat to make white flour removes 80% of its magnesium, 70-80% of its zinc, 87% of its chromium, 88% of its manganese and 50% of its cobalt.
Similarly, refining sugar cane to make white sugar removes 99% of its magnesium and 93% of its chromium. Polishing rice removes 75% of its zinc and chromium. One answer to this is that some frozen foods are nutritionally better if they are flash frozen at the farm. Even canned sardines are not bad if they are sped to you by aircraft or by boats soon after processing. However, the best food is freshly harvested or freshly killed and eaten quickly.
Food additives can further deplete nutrients. Thousands of artificial flavors, colors, dough conditioners, stabilizers and preservatives are added to most people’s foods. While some are harmless and may even increase the quality of the food by preserving it, many are toxic and can deplete the body of nutrients. For example, EDTAadded to some frozen vegetables to preserve the color of the vegetable does so by removing vital minerals from the vegetable so it does not “tarnish”.
Weak digestion and poor eating habits impair the absorption of nutrients. Most people’s digestion is very weak today. As a result, they do not absorb nutrients well. This further impairs nutrient absorption and increases nutritional needs. This is why in nutritional balancing programs, everyone is given a digestive aid and liver detoxification supplement.
Stressful lifestyles deplete many nutrients including calcium, magnesium and zinc. Zinc begins to be eliminated from the body within minutes of a stress. This is why many people have white spots on their fingernails, for example.
Stress causes excessive sympathetic nervous system activity, which reduces digestive strength. This, in turn, reduces nutrient absorption and utilization even further. Thus, anyone under stress will need even more nutrients than those that live a very peaceful and quite existence.
