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In a perfect world, you ought not to need any supplement. You are adapted to live perfectly well on the food in your environment. The problem comes when we alter the food supply.
The heart disease caused by a deficiency of CoQ10 in our modern food is a good example. I’ve reversed heart disease in my patients using this one simple nutrient.
Correcting for changes in your food sheds new light on supplements. I’ll show you why your vegetables don’t provide the vitamins and minerals they used to. And, you’ll see some tactics to get the nutrients back in today’s produce.
Not Your Grandmother’s Broccoli
Vegetables don’t pack the punch they did only fifty years ago. A new report shows a huge drop in the levels of six essential vitamins and minerals. These include calcium, vitamin B2, vitamin C, iron, potassium and protein.[1]
The most popular commercial broccoli is a hybrid called Marathon. The USDA reports that Marathon has levels of calcium and magnesium one third lower than other, older hybrids. Not that other hybrids are perfect either. In just the last seven years, overall levels of calcium have dropped by over fifty percent.[2]
Here are just a few of the ways modern techniques can suck the life out of your veggies:
- Nature Turned Commodity: In today’s market, nutrition doesn’t determine profits. Instead, farmers breed vegetables with high pith and water content. (Pith is the tough, fibrous character a fruit or vegetable.) Growers love produce that feels like rubber and is heavy from water. It’s easy to ship, looks nice and weighs a lot. Just what the farmers need to turn a profit.
- Harvesting Before Ripeness: Most fruit and vegetables, (you know this with tomatoes) are picked green. Without a chance to sun-ripen, many of the antioxidants that protect you from cancer and cell damage don’t get a chance to develop.
- Toxic Fertilizers: Changes in the soil and incomplete commercial fertilizers wipe out important trace minerals including chromium and zinc. Chromium is vital to insulin sensitivity and zinc is vital to testosterone production. When you grow vegetables in mineral deficient soil, the plant passes the mineral deficiency on to you.
Protect Your Health and Get the Nutrients You Need
All this doesn’t mean you have to live without the nutrients your body needs most. Follow a few simple guidelines and you can immediately begin to put them back.
- Eat Locally Grown Produce: The next time you’re driving down the main street in your town, look out for the farmer’s markets. They feature a selection of locally grown produce, which is often of much higher quality. It also gives you the chance to ask the farmers how they grow and harvest their veggies.
- Eat Organic: Although not perfect, produce grown organically is better. And it usually tastes better too. A recent study found that organic fruits and vegetables have higher levels of antioxidants, polyphenols and important enzymes.[3] They’re also free of harmful pesticides and toxic chemicals. They cost more, but your health is worth it.
- Take Supplements: A simple multi-vitamin can replace many of the vitamins, minerals and nutrients you miss from eating modern foods. Many of the formulas contain a blend of antioxidants as well.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD
P.S. – To give you a sense of how times have changed, you would have to eat forty servings of spinach today to equal the amount of iron found in one serving of spinach grown in 1950!
[1] Davis ER, Epp MD, Riordan HD. Changes in USDA food composition data for 43 garden crops, 1950 to 1999. J Am Coll Nutr. 2004 Dec;23(6):669-82.
[2] Farnham M. Calcium and Magnesium Concentration of Inbred and Hybrid Broccoli Heads. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science. Feb 15, 2000.
[3] Carbonaro M, et al. Modulation of antioxidant compounds in organic vs. conventional fruit. J Agric Food Chem. 2002 Sep 11;50(19):5458-62.