"A knowledge of the chemical composition of foods is the first essential in the dietary treatment of disease or in any study of human nutrition"

R.A. McCance and E.M. Widdowson,
The Composition of Foods, 1940

In 2016, we presented you with the list of the most contaminated fruits and vegetables. In a 2017 article, we told you about food depleted by life.

What about 2018?

It's no longer a secret: Although they are some of the healthiest foods you can eat, our fruits and vegetables are very often contaminated by pesticides. In February, Generations Futures released a report on the presence of pesticide residues measured in non-organic fruits and vegetables consumed in France.

Source: Generations-futures.com

In all these are 19 fruits and 33 vegetables that could be studied on the basis of data provided by the General Directorate of Fraud Control.

What results?

Grapes and celery top this sad list.

Most affected fruits:

• Grapes (89% of samples contain quantifiable pesticide residues).
• Clementines/mandarines and cherries (88%).
• Grapefruit (86%)
• The Strawberries
• Nectarines/peaches (83%).

Conversely, those less affected are the plums/mirabels (35%) followed by the kiwis (27%) and the lawyers (23%).

On the vegetable side, the most contaminated are :

• Celery sticks (85%).
• Fresh herbs (75%).
• Endives (73%).
• Celeriac (72%).
• Lettuces (66%).

The most spared were beets (4%),asparagus (3%) and sweet corn (2%). Again, 3.5% of the samples exceeded the MRL, particularly fresh herbs, celery sticks, chard and turnips.

It should be noted, however, that these results have limitations because they do not indicate the concentration levels of pesticides found in food. However, we should be concerned about products that escape regulation...

Another equally interpellent study: The Rise of the "Empty Calorie"

Since the end of the 1990s, a dozen studies from Canadian, American and British universities have reported a collapse in the concentration of nutrients in our food.

This work was summarized in 2007 by Brian Halweil, a researcher at the Worldwatch Institute. "Still No Free Lunch" thus confirms the rise of the "empty calorie": fatty, sugary and unhelpful to health.

Vitamin C: one apple yesterday = 100 apples today

Halweil tells us that the foods known to be healthy, vitamins A and C, proteins, phosphorus, calcium, iron and other minerals or trace elements have been divided by two, even by 100, in half a century.

So don't be surprised if you are deficient because to regain the nutritional qualities of a fruit or vegetable from 50 years ago, you would have to eat several kilos of it today!

The average amount of milk produced by a dairy cow, meanwhile, has quadrupled. From 5,000 pounds per cow in 1900, it's up to about 22,000 today...

Is organic more nutritious?

For now, organic foods contain significantly more essential nutrients than others. Nevertheless, according to some organic industry observers, the nutritional advantage of organic food may be eroded if organic farmers also begin to develop higher-yielding systems.

At the end of his report, the researcher thus offers several pieces of advice to producers and agricultural scientists;

In particular, it encourages root growth by using certain organic forms of fertilizer (compost, manure, cover crop) but also thephytochemical production. Techniques to consider would include lowering nitrogen levels, allowing plants to mature a bit more slowly and reach maturity while reducing pesticide use and increasing controls.

The way we grow food, the chemicals used in agribusiness, the drugs administered to animals, the countless added fats and sugars,... All of this undeniably contributes to the increase in our health concerns.

So the next few years will be critical. The frequency and severity of many diseases will increasingly depend on the nutritional quality of food and the way it is grown.

Lifelong learning, a saving grace?

A laissez-faire technique, permaculture involves mimicking the functioning of natural ecosystems while applying them to human domains. Promoting interaction between species, permaculture is practiced on mounds of earth.

It is therefore a question of planting complementary foodstuffs. Example with tomatoes and basil; Tomatoes will benefit from the sun by shading the basil which will keep away insects that could harm the growth of tomatoes.

No tilling is required for this process. You have to be able to observe what is going on and interact with the elements in order to be as effective as possible.

The Internet is full of techniques, tips and tricks to grow in harmony with nature. So, it's up to you!

Sources:
https://organic-center.org/reportfiles/YieldsReport.pdf