Plummeting mineral levels suggest nutritional crisis in UK

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Plummeting mineral levels suggest nutritional crisis in UK

 

By Anthony Fletcher

 

 

03/02/2006 - The plummeting mineral content of milk, meat and

vegetables over the past 60 years will have grave consequences for the

future health of the UK, according to a shocking food analysis.

 

Dr David Thomas, a primary healthcare practitioner and independent

researcher, made a comparison of government tables published in 1940,

and again in 2002.

 

His conclusions, which were published by the Food Commission this

month, make alarming reading.

 

For example, the iron content in 15 different varieties of meat had

decreased on average by 47 per cent, with some products showing a fall

as high as 80 per cent, while the iron content of milk had dropped by

over 60 per cent.

 

Copper and magnesium, essential for enzyme functioning, also showed

losses in meat products. Magnesium levels have typically fallen by 10

per cent while copper levels have fallen by 60 per cent.

 

Dairy foods have experienced a 90 per cent fall in copper, while the

calcium loss in high-value Parmesan cheese was an extraordinary 70 per

cent, implying a considerable dilution of the original highly

concentrated recipe.

 

" Processed and manufactured food has resulted in increasingly

denatured products, with no micronutrients, " Thomas told

FoodNavigator. " As time has gone on, things have got lost.

 

" With the current obesity crisis, lo and behold; people are beginning

to realise that good food makes good sense. "

 

But the default meal for many children remains a plate of rendered

meat, chips and Coke.

 

" We're beginning to see what was once called adult onset diabetes in

kids, and an increase in asthma and hyperactivity, " said Thomas. " All

these have nutritional links. When I see chronic illnesses such as

these, I always think it is amazing what a difference changing diets

can do but why shouldn't it be like this in the first place? "

 

Intensive farming on exhausted land appears to be one likely major

cause of the decline in the nutritional quality of the food, along

with the selection of varieties for qualities other than nutrition.

Thomas points out that the food industry is also under intense

pressure to produce cheaper food, instead of nutrient-dense food.

 

" Why is it that you have to eat four carrots to get the same amount of

magnesium as you would have done in 1940? " he asks.

 

The UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA), which publishes The Composition

of Food, points out that the use the government tables to make

historical comparisons could be problematic. It said in a statement

that any differences over time could be due to a wide variety of

factors, including variety and breed, animal husbandry, storage

conditions as well as differences in analytical methodology.

 

But statistics clearly show that there is something seriously wrong

with levels of nutritional awareness in Europe. The European

Commission says that 14 million Europeans are now obese or overweight,

of which more than 3 million are children.

 

" We've lost the plot, " insists Thomas. " Until people wake up to this

situation, then things will get worse. "

 

Food, says Thomas, has to be grown well in order for it to be

micronutrient dense. This concept should inform government policies

across Europe.

 

" But the only people interested in this at the moment seem to be

celebrities, " he added.