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On the web there is plenty of material like this one claiming that the vegetables we buy today are much less nutritious than vegetables from 40/70/100 years ago.

Each One Reach One infographic

8 oranges today have the same nutrients as 1 orange 100 years ago

There is also plenty of websites reporting the relevant research, like Dirt Poor: Have Fruits and Vegetables Become Less Nutritious?.

The explanation generally given is that with our artificial selection we tend to focus on look, pest resistance or other characteristics in place of the the nutritional content. The other explanation is soil depletion.

Is this actually true? Are we actually losing nutrients or there is just some natural change (EG: less vitamin A but more zinc)?

There doesn't seem much research from what I have seen and it seems to be only focused on the "negative" side, so it's not easy to assess the real situation.

Laurel
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    I'm not 100% this is an exact duplicate. There are also press articles about oranges in particular, making similar claims https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/food/626616/nutrition-study-one-orange-takes-21-from-today-fruit-vegetables-lacking The linked question and answers don't talk about oranges (I think). So it's perhaps worthwhile to narrow the focus of this question to the claim about oranges. – Fizz Mar 14 '22 at 16:18
  • I believe botany and horticulture tell us that varieties can be bred to favor certain characteristics, which could include vitamin levels, sugar content, trace nutrients, etc. But there's nothing in the claim that explains whether we're talking mass- market variety differences from the past, or some difference in agricultural practices, or differences in farm and orchard soil, or what. It's such a blanket statement it can't be proved or disproved without more details. – user8356 Mar 15 '22 at 14:56
  • @Fizz in light of the issue with oranges, as you mentioned, your answer in the linked **potential** duplicate only covers minerals as far as I saw. There are no mentions of vitamin contents in any of the answers. Could you expand your answer to cover that? Then, this will definitely be a duplicate. – Chris Rogers Mar 19 '22 at 04:27
  • @ChrisRogers, Why was this closed as a duplicate? The other question is strictly related to soil quality. The Question refers to this as "*The other explanation is soil depletion.*". The Question is obviously asking about the problem in general, and specifically mentions genetic changes that favour appearance, transportability, and shelf-life over nutrition or taste. (Anyone that's grown their own heirloom tomatoes knows that commercial tomatoes are a pale imitation when it comes to flavour.) I'd be interested in seeing answers about *that* part of the question. – Ray Butterworth Mar 21 '22 at 01:00
  • I would try and find out from those who voted to do so. I wasn't one of them @RayButterworth and as I commented to Fizz, it isn't in my mind yet. To me, a specific area highlighted is vitamins from oranges, etc. which are not covered. The other question concentrates on minerals. Maybe this question could be tweaked to make it more explicit on the vitamin content of fruit and veg to ensure that it is more seen to be different. – Chris Rogers Mar 21 '22 at 07:52

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