Measurements Of Nutrients In Food?

[Parsifal]

I know that we are using websites like Cronometer for having an idea if we are getting enough nutrients with food.

I am wondering if the nutrient content of each food is because of the soil or because the food has a special affinity with a particular nutrient? It seems that the nutrient content is not constant.

Does someone know more about this topic?

 

[Peater Piper]

Good question. I'd be interested in the answer as well. On nutritiondata.self.com they frequently have multiple listings for the same food type. So I've tried, for example, comparing canned asparagus to freshly boiled asparagus, as I assume they came from different locations. Some of the values correspond, but others vary. Maybe someone's evaluated a specific food from many different locations to see how they compare.

 

[mt_dreams]

The soil has a major influence on some nutrients. As you can imagine, the nutrient levels are not even close to what they were 100 years ago. I don't have the specifics on what type of fertilization ratio & amount affects what nutrients. Here in ontario canada, we've got some sub-par soil which lowers nutrients like selenium when compared to our western soil. I've also read that the pristine soil in places like pennsylvania & ohio has lost a lot of its luster from commercial farming which doesn't rotate it's crops. Much like what happened to the tobacco & cotton soils a couple hundred years ago ... so we've known about this for quite some time.

As for nutritiondata's different listings for veggies, this is due to the different cooking processes. Canned will be different than boiled due to the fact that some of the nutrients will be lost in the water while other might increase due to the cooking process when compared to raw.

 

[tara]

I am wondering if the nutrient content of each food is because of the soil or because the food has a special affinity with a particular nutrient? It seems that the nutrient content is not constant.

I think both.
Grown in the same soil, some plants will take up different balances of minerals.
Grown in different soil, the same species will have different mineral content. There can apparently be big differences.
You can get a refractometer to test the brix of juice from fruit and veges to distinguish higher and lower brix veges/fruit.