human performance and nutrition consulting

Lately, I've come across this claim more and more...

"You would have to eat 40 servings of today's spinach in order to get the same nutrients as you would from one serving of spinach 50 years ago."

Often times the numbers (i.e. servings, how many years ago) and vegetables referenced change...but the message is the same.

So is there any truth to this claim?

Well, there is limited research in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom and this research does show that there has been depletion of nutrients within selected produce over the last 25-50 years.

A broad range of vitamins and minerals have been found to be lower in our fruits and vegetables, including vitamins A and C, niacin, riboflavin, thiamine, magnesium, iron, zinc, and copper.

However, our fruits and veggies are still loaded with those all-important nutrients. And any claims suggesting that our veggies are worthless - or are 50x less potent - are often disingenuous.

In fact, with spinach in particular, vitamins C and A as well as calcium, potassium, and magnesium are lower by 45%, 17%, 6%, 18%, and 10% respectively. This means that, if anything, we’d need to eat 2x the amount of spinach to get the same amount of vitamin C vs. 50 years ago. And as far as the other nutrients, anywhere from 1.6x-1.18x the amount.

So it isn’t as bad as some are saying.

Yet our soil is getting depleted and this is becoming a problem. The real discussion that has to take place is in reference to the solution. Organic growing makes a difference so in terms of infrastructure, some things have to change.

However, on a more personal note the solution is simple.

First, eat more fruits and veggies (I recommend 10-15 servings/day). This will help ensure that even if the produce you’re choosing is lower in per serving vitamin and mineral content, you’re making up for this in an increase in total servings.

Second, if you’re not getting your 10-15 fruits and veggies, supplement with a green food product and/or a multi-vitamin. Even JAMA (The Journal of The American Medical Association) recommended the multi-vitamin thing.

Yet keep in mind, your best solution is to go with the fruits and veggies. No matter how sexy certain supplement formulas may be, they're no substitute for fruits and veggies.