Click here to print
A
Growing Problem
You do not need to be told that the nutritional
content of children’s diets is getting worse by the day —
the
subject dominates health pages and headlines. Now it seems that even the
staple foods we trusted to give our children balance within their diets
may be at fault. A study has shown that modern farming methods are
depleting produce of the nutrients essential for human health.
Over
the last 60 years, levels of iron, magnesium and other minerals,
all-important for the body’s chemical balance, have declined by
between a quarter and three-quarters in fruit and vegetables.
The study by Dr David Thomas, a mineralogist and fellow of
the Geological Society, comes amid increasing concern in the rise of
nutrition related diseases such as obesity and diabetes.
Dr Thomas has investigated how amounts of essential mineral~
such as iron, magnesium, potassium and copper have changed in 64 fruits
and vegetables. His research compared current data with records taken
from 1940, when government scientists began systematically analysing
hundreds of foodstuffs.
It showed that, on average, vegetables had lost about half of
their sodium and calcium content, a quarter of their iron and 76% of
their copper content. The nutrient levels of fruits had also declined
significantly with iron, copper and zinc all falling by up to 27%.
In an article in the Times* Dr Thomas commented, What we
found is that since 1940 the minerals and other nutrients that help to
make fruit and vegetables good for you have been in startling
decline,”
Dr Thomas links the decline to the intensification of
farming, suggesting that agricultural chemicals and techniques could be
depriving plants of the minerals.
The article continued with details of the recent Food
Standards Agency National Diet and Nutrition Survey, which showed that
the blood plasma of a quarter of British men and a third of women was
iron-deficient and that many people may also be deficient in nutrients
such as selenium and vitamins C and B12.
The FSA is now set to conduct its own nutrient research.
Despite the facts indicated by the research, an FSA spokesman
commented that “A varied and balanced diet, with plenty of fruit and
vegetables and starchy foods, will still provide all of the nutrients
that a healthy individual requires.”
The Alliance for Natural Health has responded to the FSA’s
comments.
“The FSA seems very cautious about recommending supplements
despite its discovery of the poor micronutritional status of large
sectors of our population. We all appreciate that we need to see
wide-scale agricultural reform whereby organic and others forms of
sustainable agriculture become the norm rather than a fringe activity.
However, the Food Supplements Directive could lead to a ban of more than
50 of the trace and ultra-trace elements that we know were present in
the most fertile soils of yester year.”
The facts speak for themselves and whilst a healthy and
nutritious diet is imperative there is no doubt that our foodstuffs are
lacking in the qualities our bodies require. In the case of a growing
child the need for these vitamins and minerals is essential.
Why are minerals essential?
As well as Oxygen, the body must have a full spectrum of
minerals to experience full health. It is said that
vitamins, enzymes
and antioxidants do us little or no good if we lack minerals. They all
act as co-factors. Even farmers and breeders know that our plants are
not enough to raise healthy animals and always supplement from birth
with major minerals, trace minerals and vitamins.
Minerals are essential for our body’s proper functioning
and that includes the effective absorption of the vitamins that we need
on a daily basis. Minerals assist our assimilation of vitamins, enabling
us to gain the maximum benefit from the vitamins in our food and in
supplements.
Research indicates that giving vitamin-mineral supplements,
along with essential fatty acids, to growing children can actually
improve their behaviour and academic performance.
Solution
Parents are concerned to find a complete nutritional source
of all of the vitamins, minerals and trace minerals that children will
actually enjoy taking. Jurassic Juice is a new mango flavoured liquid
supplement, which delivers over 90 Vitamins, Minerals and Trace
Minerals. It and has the highest content of any formula available for
children. It has triple the absorbency when compared to tablets, tastes
great and is low cost.
Over 70 Organic Trace minerals from Jurassic plants give
children the ‘Power of the Dinosaur’. Tests have shown that children
love the taste and will come back for more. Apparently adults are quite
partial too!
© The Alternative Magazine 2004
For other relative health news articles please click here