this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2026
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Vegetables half as nutritious as they were in the 1960s (www.yahoo.com)
submitted 6 days ago by Powderhorn@beehaw.org to c/science@beehaw.org
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This is The Telegraph, so apologies for the weird choice on percent and other style quirks.

The nutritional value of fruit and vegetables has fallen by up to 50pc since the Sixties because of declining soil quality, according to a new study.

The report, from researchers at Deep Science Ventures, found that humans needed to consume twice the number of vegetables to get the same level of minerals such as potassium, magnesium or copper as would have been present in their food 60 years ago.

The study found that many crops had lost 20pc to 50pc of several key nutrients.

Will Summers, a senior associate at the firm, said: "For 60 years we've measured food security in calories and tonnes per hectare.

"On those measures we've done remarkably well. But we've been quietly hollowing out what's inside our food."

The decrease in nutrient and vitamin value is thought to be down to declining soil quality and crops being selectively bred for their ability to grow quickly, rather than there being any focus on their health benefits.

The effect will be particularly acute for the 14pc of Britons who identify as vegetarian or vegan.

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[–] SorryImLate@piefed.social 10 points 6 days ago

Here is the original report:

Hollow Harvests

The source is a company investing in, among others, sustainable agriculture, so some bias. I've also not read the actual report yet. That said, their summary raises an interesting point about the relationship with being overweight.

A carrot with half the potassium means eating twice as many carrots to get the same benefit. In countries like the UK, this decline is partly masked by eating more

Could soil degradation be a factor in the obesity epidemic? Interesting thought.

but that buffer is shrinking. GLP-1 weight-loss drugs are projected to reach over 100 million users in higher-income countries by 2030 and reduce food intake by 16 to 39%, while rising CO2 and degraded soils threaten to push nutrient levels down further.

Together, these pressures could leave around 5 million UK working-age adults below safe levels of essential vitamins and minerals.

Not sure why they're only reporting numbers for working age adults. Anyway, 5m is approx. 11% of the population aged 15-64 (thanks Wikipedia).