Scientists: vegetables and fruits lose the status of healthy food

Scientists have discovered that increasing the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere leads to a decrease in the level of nutrients in plants, turning fruits and vegetables, contrary to beliefs, into useless and possibly harmful food. It all started in 1998, when biologists at the University of Arizona discovered a strange problem, writes Politico.

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Trying to save zooplankton, they decided to grow more algae for him, giving them more light. Algae did indeed become more, but some time after they were consumed, zooplankton was on the verge of survival. Scientists have put forward the theory that by forcing the algae to grow faster, they did not give them the opportunity to fully produce nutrients necessary for zooplankton. That is, by accelerating the growth of algae, they turned it into useless food. A study of this problem was published in 2000.

After that, one of a group of scientists, Irakli Loladze, thought that this situation could be everywhere in the world and influence what people use. Plants require light and carbon dioxide (CO2, carbon dioxide) to grow. Increasing the amount of light leads to faster growth, but a decrease in the benefits of plants. The scientist suggested that increasing the amount of carbon dioxide could have the same effect, and the planet would suffer from an increase in its amount over many years.

Loladze found that scientists have long documented an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but almost no research has been done on how this affects plants on the planet. After collecting data, he concluded that carbon dioxide leads to an increase in the level of sugar in plants and a sharp decrease in the level of beneficial substances, and plants on the entire planet suffer from this.

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Testing fruits and vegetables show that the amount of minerals, vitamins and proteins contained in them has noticeably decreased over the last 50-70 years. One of the reasons is that people choose crops with higher yields and growth rates, and they, as a rule, are less saturated with useful substances.

The second reason is the discovery made by Loladze - the atmosphere itself changes the food we eat. Plants need carbon dioxide to live, just as people need oxygen, but in recent years they have been getting too much of it. Before the Industrial Revolution, the Earth's atmosphere contained about 280 parts per million of carbon dioxide. In 2016, the planet passed the 400 ppm threshold. Scientists predict that we will likely reach 550 ppm within the next half century.

Rising CO2 levels speed up photosynthesis, a process that helps plants transform sunlight into food for them. This causes them to grow faster, but it also causes them to consume and produce more carbohydrates such as glucose, reducing the amount of other nutrients we depend on such as protein, iron and zinc.

Experiments have shown that increasing the level of carbon dioxide has a strong effect on plants and that with increasing levels of carbon dioxide in them, the levels of calcium, potassium, zinc and iron decrease. On average, the reduction is 8%.

Considering that plants are the most important source of protein for people in developing countries, by 2050, scientists estimate that 150 millions of people may be at risk of protein deficiency, especially in countries like India and Bangladesh.

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Researchers have found that reducing zinc levels in plants, which is especially important for the health of mothers and babies, could threaten 138 millions of people. In addition, more than 1 billion mothers and 354 million children live in countries where a significant decrease in the level of iron consumed in food is predicted due to plant changes, which can aggravate the already widespread problem of anemia among the population.

In addition, the increase in sugar levels in plants can accelerate the rate of obesity and, accordingly, increase the level of cardiovascular diseases.

Scientists also found that the problem of reducing nutrients in plants can negatively affect bees, since the protein content of some plant species pollen has decreased three times since the beginning of the industrial revolution, which could adversely affect the bees population all over the world.

It is also possible to influence the animals that eat the plants, and the quality of their meat consumed by humans, but research in this area has not yet been conducted.

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