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Phil Warman, an
agronomist and professor of agricultural sciences at Nova Scotia Agricultural
College, said there is no doubt the nutritional content of food is different
today, due to the emphasis on producing cheap food. "The emphasis is on
appearance, storability and transportability, and there has been much less
emphasis on the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables," he said.
Dr. Warman said crops
are bred to produce higher yields, to be resistant to disease and to produce
more visually attractive fruits and vegetables, but little or no emphasis is
placed on their vitamin or mineral content.
While there is little
evidence, anecdotal or otherwise, that the changes are resulting in major
nutritional deficiencies in the general population, Dr. Warman emphasized that
consumers should care about the issue because it is the nutrients, not the
appearance, that give food value.
"I care because I want
to eat a product that is as high in nutritional value as possible. Otherwise, I
would eat sawdust with nitrogen fertilizer," he said.
Tim Lang, a professor
at the Centre for Food Policy in London, England, agreed. "It's an issue of
consumer rights," he said. "We think of an orange as a constant, but the reality
is it isn't."
In fact, you would have
to eat eight oranges today to get the same amount of vitamin A your grandparents
got from a single orange. And you would need to eat five to get the same level
of iron. However, the amount of vitamin C has increased slightly.
Dr. Lang said declining
nutrient levels may prove to be a health issue because we are only beginning to
understand how important micronutrients are to disease prevention. "The argument
that it doesn't matter because we overconsume is complacent. . . . Nutrient
density might also be important."
Alison Stephen,
director of research at the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, said the
biggest nutritional problem is that most Canadians do not eat anywhere near the
recommended five to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables daily.
But she is not unduly
worried about today's consumers failing to get their required vitamins and
minerals. "A lot of our foods today are fortified — milk, bread, apple juice,
cereal," she said. In other words, grains and dairy products are far more
important sources of essential nutrients than they were in the past.
To conduct the
analysis, The Globe and Mail and CTV examined food tables that were prepared by
government researchers in 1951, 1972 and 1999, and compared the nutrients
available from 100 grams of the given food.
The results were almost
identical to similar research conducted in the United States and Britain. The
U.K. research was published in the British Food Journal, a peer-reviewed,
scientific publication, while the U.S. data have been published only in
alternative-health journals.
According to the Canadian data, almost 80 per cent of
foods tested showed drops in calcium and iron;
three-quarters saw drops in vitamin A, and half lost
vitamin C and riboflavin; one-third lost thiamine and 12
per cent lost niacin. But some experts said the
explanation for the decline might be found in testing
and sampling methods.
Len Piché, a
Representative professor of nutrition at Brescia College in London, Ont.,
questioned the accuracy of the numbers, saying testing methods were not great in
1951, so we may only now be getting a true idea of the nutrients in fruits and
vegetables. "Did they really go down, or do we just have better techniques for
analyzing those nutrients?" he wondered.
However, Dr. Piché said
the issue is one Health Canada should examine. "If there's a problem, I'm
confident the government will take it seriously and do the necessary research to
address it," he said.
In the analysis, the
biggest loser was broccoli, a food that epitomizes the dictates of healthy
eating. All seven of its measurable nutrients declined, notably calcium, which
fell 63 per cent, and iron, which dropped 34 per cent. Broccoli is often cited
as an excellent source of calcium and iron.
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Experts Say Nourishment Needs Boost, No Matter How Careful People
Are About Their Diets
If
the nutrient content of fruits and vegetables is falling -- as research suggests
-- it raises the question: Should everyone take nutritional supplements to make
up for shortcomings?
"Absolutely," said
Aileen Burford Mason, a biochemical nutritionist and a Toronto-based nutrition
counsellor. "Taking a multivitamin is risk-free and could have tremendous
benefit."
Dr. Burford Mason
stresses that eating well is essential and that supplements are precisely that
-- complementing good food choices, not substituting for them.
But, as someone who has
spent her career studying the importance of various micronutrients for overall
health, she is also adamant that, no matter how careful people are about their
diet, they need help from supplements.
"When I hear people
say: 'You can get all the nutrients you need from food,' I ask them: 'Where is
there a shred of evidence that is true?' They are in denial.
"No matter how well we
eat, it's not possible to get adequate nutrition."
While that seems like a
radical notion, it has increasing support in the nutrition community. In recent
years there has been a raft of evidence about the importance of basic vitamins
and minerals for long-term health.
It used to be thought
that supplements were necessary only to avoid exotic diseases such as scurvy,
beriberi and rickets.
But today it is
believed that common killers such as cardiovascular disease and cancer may have
their roots in nutrient deficiencies.
Research into this area
began in earnest after it was discovered that a deficiency of a seemingly
innocuous nutrient, folic acid (or folate) caused the devastating birth defects
spina bifida and anencephaly. A little extra folic acid may also reduce the risk
of heart disease and cancer in adults, particularly if they drink alcohol (which
robs the body of the nutrient).
Walter Willett, author
of the seminal work Eat, Drink and Be Healthy, said the research suggests that
taking supplements (in addition to eating well) "could substantially improve our
long-term health."
Dr. Willett, chairman
of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, said the
Canada Food Guide should include a recommendation that supplements be included
as part of a healthy diet.
He said the five
nutrients that people don't get enough of in their diets are folic acid, vitamin
B6, vitamin B12, vitamin D and vitamin E. These can all be found in a standard
multivitamin, though he suggests that men and postmenopausal women should take
an additional vitamin E supplement.
He calls a daily
multivitamin a good, cheap insurance policy.
According to a survey
commissioned by the Canadian Health Food Association, however, only 30 per cent
of adults take a daily supplement -- even though two-thirds of respondents feel
that Canadians, in general, are not receiving enough nutrients in food.
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NB Added by Editor
The
problem is that, without vital enzymes, nutrients do not get used. This lack of
uptake of nutrients is at the heart of what causes most of the disorders in the
human body. You can consume the best nutrients in the world, but if you cannot
digest and assimilate them, then everything is lost.
Today, most of us have lost
our ability to digest nutrients. This is because we’re exposed to substances
that kill bacteria (e.g. antibiotics, pesticides and fertilisers). These
substances kill off the friendly bacteria that produce the enzymes which digest
the nutrients. It is enzymes that are responsible for every metabolic process in
your body. If there is a deficit of friendly (probiotic) bacteria in the human
gut, then there is a deficit of enzymes.
Enzymes are responsible for
all building and repairs in the body, and they need amino acids to get these
jobs done. It’s crucial to good health to have amino acids floating in the body
– available at a moment’s notice – so that enzymes can utilize them when needed.
In-Liven Probiotic,
a probiotic superfood,
-
helps eliminate unfriendly bacteria
-
supplies friendly bacteria that produce enzymes
-
counteracts medical and food chain antibiotic
damage
-
supports the body to enhance immune function
-
optimises nutrient absorption and assimilation
-
helps guard against nutrient starvation.
"Probiotics will be to
medicine in the 21st century as antibiotics and microbiology were in the 20th
century." -
Michael McCann, MD
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