Fading fruit goodness

Fruit and vegetables are being gradually stripped of the natural goodness which makes them beneficial for health, experts have found.

An alarming drop in essential minerals means that the apples and greens of today are nowhere near as good for us as those eaten 50 years ago.

Some fruits are also becoming sweeter than they were during the last century, leading to fears about tooth decay and obesity.

Nutrients needed to help the body and immune system work properly, balance hormones and produce vital blood cells are dwindling across a wide variety of fruit and vegetables, it emerged.

Government health advice is to eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day to help maintain health and possibly avoid some cancers.

But research by nutritionist David Thomas reveals that the food we are eating is simply not as good for us as it was during World War II.

Modern farming methods are blamed for the decline in minerals such as copper, iron, magnesium and potassium in fruit and vegetables.

Crops are being grown in soil stripped of its goodness. Vitamin loss could be exacerbated by fruits being picked before they are ripe.

They are often flown long distances before they actually hit the shelves and nutritionists say that fruit and vegetables which are fresh are more likely to contain the most vitamins.

Artificial fertilisers are used to speed growth and productivity of crops but this might not take account of the delicate balance of mineral requirements of plants and foods.

Dr Thomas investigated the fall of nutrients in 64 foods by comparing data from Government-backed scientific studies between 1940 and 1991.

The figures were published under the auspices of the Medical Research Council, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and Royal Society of Chemistry.

The rate of depletion appeared to be greatest between 1978 and 1991. In those 13 years alone, vegetables lost 57 per cent of their zinc - an important element for the immune system and for male fertility.

Dr Thomas said: 'We found that since 1940, the minerals and other nutrients that help to make fruit and vegetables good for you have been in startling decline.'

He said that eating fruit and vegetables is still beneficial for health, but continuing falls in nutrients could lead to deficiencies in some consumers.

The study found that vegetables had lost about half of their sodium and calcium, a quarter of their iron and 76 per cent of their copper content since the 1940s.

Among fruits, potassium fell by 22 per cent, copper by 19 per cent and iron by 24 per cent.

Runner beans, which used to contain a significant amount of sodium - which is vital for nerve function - have hardly any trace of it.

Spinach, famous as a good source of iron, contained a staggering 60 per cent less than 50 years ago. The findings confirm an earlier study, published in the British Food Journal, which found similar changes in the nutritional composition of 20 fruits and 20 vegetables between the late 1930s and early 1990s.

Separate research by the U.S. Government showed that apples can now contain up to 15 per cent sugar, compared with 8 to 10 per cent three decades ago.

Increases in sugar content have also been recorded in pineapples, pears and bananas.

Professor Tom Sanders, a nutritionist at King's College in London, said extra sweetness could be caused by farming techniques.

'In apples, this is partly due to new varieties and partly to how they are picked and stored - so they retain more sugar.'