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Review
. 2024 Mar 14;13(6):877.
doi: 10.3390/foods13060877.

An Alarming Decline in the Nutritional Quality of Foods: The Biggest Challenge for Future Generations' Health

Affiliations
Review

An Alarming Decline in the Nutritional Quality of Foods: The Biggest Challenge for Future Generations' Health

Raju Lal Bhardwaj et al. Foods. .

Abstract

In the last sixty years, there has been an alarming decline in food quality and a decrease in a wide variety of nutritionally essential minerals and nutraceutical compounds in imperative fruits, vegetables, and food crops. The potential causes behind the decline in the nutritional quality of foods have been identified worldwide as chaotic mineral nutrient application, the preference for less nutritious cultivars/crops, the use of high-yielding varieties, and agronomic issues associated with a shift from natural farming to chemical farming. Likewise, the rise in atmospheric or synthetically elevated carbon dioxide could contribute to the extensive reductions in the nutritional quality of fruits, vegetables, and food crops. Since ancient times, nutrient-intense crops such as millets, conventional fruits, and vegetables have been broadly grown and are the most important staple food, but the area dedicated to these crops has been declining steadily over the past few decades and hastily after the green revolution era due to their poorer economic competitiveness with major commodities such as high-yielding varieties of potato, tomato, maize, wheat, and rice. The majority of the population in underdeveloped and developing countries have lower immune systems, are severely malnourished, and have multiple nutrient deficiency disorders due to poor dietary intake and less nutritious foods because of ignorance about the importance of our traditional nutrient-rich diets and ecofriendly organic farming methods. This critical review emphasizes the importance of balance and adequate nutrition as well as the need to improve soil biodiversity and fertility: those are main causes behind the decline in nutritional density. There is also emphasis on a possible way out of alleviating the decline nutritional density of food crops for the health and well-being of future generations.

Keywords: biodiversity; micronutrient; nutrient density; synthetic fertilizers; traditional food.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Elevated CO2 (eCO2 = 689) reduced the overall mineral content of C3 plants.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Appearance of nitrogen and micronutrient deficiencies in cultivable land in India.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Conceptual overview illustrating the role of various aspects, such as the use biofortified crops, soil microbial biodiversity (PGPM), organic farming, integrated nutrient management, reviving traditional foods, using improved handling practices and value addition, the use of the genome-editing technique and genomics-assisted breeding, restoring soil function, etc., can enhance the nutritional density of crops. Through the various approaches, i.e., transgenic, conventional breeding, and agronomical approaches, the use of the genome-editing technique and genomics-assisted breeding enhances the nutritional quality of food crops. Soil microbial biodiversity increases the bioavailability of nutrients through direct and indirect mechanisms, which improve plant vitality and resilience to biotic and abiotic stress and, ultimately, lead to better nutrient uptake; legumes and INM alter the pH of the rhizospheric soil, which hastens the activity of microorganisms and, thus, regulates the nutrient-cycling process. Increased SOC; total N, P, and K; and organic sources of nutrients (green manuring, biochar, compost, FYM, and vermicompost) increase soil microbial activity and enhance the bioavailability of nutrients and soil health. The use of traditional and nutrient-rich crops enhances essential minerals, carbohydrate, vitamins, phytochemicals, and antioxidant properties in crops; improved handling practices and value addition maintain the quality of produce and increase the health of consumers.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Conceptual diagram showing the main causes for declining nutritional density and strategies for alleviating declining nutritional density of food crops.

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