Guest guest Posted May 15, 2006 Report Share Posted May 15, 2006 In the 12th post of this series, a hint on declining nutrients in fruit and vegetable crops was given. While modern farming techniques are producing larger and more visually "perfect" fruit and vegetables, the yield in terms of nutrients has greatly declined. Of the 13 major nutrients found in fruit and vegetables, six have declined substantially, according to a study by Donald Davis, a U.S. biochemist in Austin at the University of Texas. The reason for this is of course farming techniques which use soil as a chemical substance and not living one. Soil is living matter, containing a major part of biomass: http://www.agrienergy.net/lowcost.htm Similarly, reduced active phytochemical content in medicinal herbs, need to adopt bio-dynamic farming techniques has been stressed by this author in messages# 4584, 4590, 4593, 4600. Due to modern production methods, fruits and vegetables now show less sugar, measured in terms of Brix number. Carrots and Beets have less sugar, and tomatoes, though bright in color and beefy, lack the tasty juice of earlier breed of tomatoes. The most surprise was chillies, which, though dark green, do not taste hot; so much modification to very nature of every specy of vegetables! The producers and processors want less sugar in their produce, increasing shelf life and reducing degradation/fermentation during transport. But this sugar reduction causes loss of nutrition. Connection between sugar in fruits and calmness of mind through glucose content of Cerebro-Spinal Fluid was hinted at by this author in recent posts in this series. Using data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Davis concludes that recently grown crops have shown a decrease of up to 38% in protein, calcium, vitamin C, phosphorus, iron and riboflavin when compared with produce from past decades. What can account for this negative trend? Like any other competitive industry, farmers attempt to drive up profits, leading them to use new techniques to increase production, Davis said. The faster-grown fruits do not have as much time to absorb minerals or develop the essential nutrients. This has happened since production sales are determined by the weight of the crop and not by nutritional value. The higher the yield the lower the nutritional value. Slower-growing crops have more time to absorb these essential nutrients, from both the sun and the soil, but since agricultural scientists are not aware of this process, neither are the consumers. We only see the effect of fast growing crops on our children, they too grow fast, precocious puberty and premature menopause are the problems created by these foods. Chemicals in containers, pesticides etc may also have contributed. Scientists and the USDA often overlook farming practices. Breeding plants to improve crop yield at the expense of everything else appears to be the main problem. As well as depleting the soil, crops are no longer rotated properly. In India, it is customary to take a different crop after sugarcane, since sugarcane depletes soil minerals fast. Horse gram is often the choice after sugarcane and crop is not harvested, but most of it returned back to mother earth. Due to the decreasing levels of nutrients in grains, it is better to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. They still contain the richest source of protective nutrients which is infinitely better than eating highly refined foods such as white flour, sugars and saturated fatty foods. Wheat is a major grain consumed everywhere worldwide. The larger the yield of wheat, the lower the nutrients it contains. If you are taking wheat grass juice, ensure that you are using seeds which give about 6 to 8 inches long grass in a week. Even if one has gluten allergy, wheat grass juice is less problematic, based on limited experience. Further reading on inadequate nutrients in food due to poor farming practice, is to be found at: "The food, the bad, and the ugly" http://eartheasy.com/article_food_bad_ugly.htm Yes, global warming may increase the size of fruit and vegetables but at what cost? Health benefits are proving to be greatly diminished with malnutrition on the increase, much to the concern and alarm of scientists worldwide. But it is also worth noting that the improved(?) breeds were created by agricultural scientists only! Now let us look at Cellular Immunity and the cellular immune system. This is modulation versus manipulation. Everything in medical science involves the manipulation of cellular immunity. We have bone marrow transplants, vaccines, gamma globulin injections, interferon, and interleukin injections to name but a few. What they have not understood in immunology is that the immune system is like a symphony orchestra required to play 22 instruments simultaneously. When we manipulate just one of these 22 pieces and change it artificially, we throw the other 21 instruments off balance – out of tune - causing a homeostatic imbalance in the body, like a cacophony of inharmonious sound!. With cellular immunity you need to modulate it like tuning a piano or radio channel. To do this you need glycosugars, which is the science of glycobiology, transfer factors, mushroom extracts, Aloe Vera, colostrum, Beta-1,3-glucans, thymus extracts, glandular extracts and many other natural compounds. But author is not asking you to search these labels in super market. The generic chemical names mentioned here are found in abundance in many vegetables, fruits, clays, herbal teas and naturally occurring minerals like shilajit, the natural substances extensively discussed in ancient ayurvedic texts. These healing elements are all powerful immune system modulators as opposed to artificial manipulators. All of these modulators tune the 22 instruments that play the immune system symphony. We have T cells, B cells, memory cells, natural killer cells, tumor necrosis factor, interferon, interleukin, etc. We have a wide variety of different types of white blood cells that are orchestrated as an immune system symphony and communicate to each other like a wireless fiber optic phone system. Ayurveda offers a wide choice of more than 50 herbs which tune the immune system to a high state of efficiency and will even give relief from several varieties of blood cancer. Of course when herbs are combined with cow urine they become very potent and highly bio-available - a cocktail indeed - resulting in the ability to fight any pathogen. This is the vital chemical secret of the various Panch Gavya distillates of cow urine. If you substitute cow urine by alcohol, we get homeopathic tinctures; and naturopathy, the mother of Ayurveda, offers several simple techniques to tune immune system using naturally occurring inexpensive materials. Cellular Nutrition to be continued next week. Editing help received from Jane MacRoss is gratefully acknowledged. Dr Bhate. ------------------------ Sponsor --------------------~--> Home is just a click away. Make your home page now. http://us.click./DHchtC/3FxNAA/yQLSAA/AxirlB/TM --~-> You can also visit - http://www.geocities.com/cybervaidya http://360./cybervaidya http://ayurveda.pbwiki.com/ <*> ayurveda/ <*> ayurveda <*> Your Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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