Aug 10, 2026 08:07 PM
(This post was last modified: Aug 10, 2026 08:15 PM by C C.)
https://www.sciencealert.com/the-worlds-...-our-diets
INTRO: Most of us aren't eating anywhere near enough vegetables, and we're suffering the health consequences. Meanwhile, we're also growing fewer and fewer varieties of vegetables, adding to the declining diversity in our diets.
A new report published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by an international team of nutrition, agriculture, and botany experts suggests embracing vegetable biodiversity could be key to improving our own health, and that of our planet.
Agriculture scientist Maarten van Zonneveld, who led the research while working at the World Vegetable Center, says our existing approaches to agriculture are not enough to solve the world's nutrition problems.
"The solution isn't simply to grow more vegetables – it's also to grow more kinds of vegetables," he says. "Much of the vegetable biodiversity we need is still out there – in traditional varieties and their wild relatives. The urgency is to conserve it properly so that we can use it wisely to diversify diets amid climate change."
The study suggests we're overlooking lots of vegetables rich in minerals and vitamins that might also be better suited to local growing conditions, depending on where in the world you live. Across the world, most people consume around 40 percent fewer vegetables than recommended for a healthy diet.
That's concerning, given low consumption of vegetables is among the top five dietary risk factors contributing to the global burden of disease. [...] Before agriculture became industrialized, there was a much greater diversity of plants being grown for food. For instance, there are more than 4,000 different varieties of potatoes, but in the United States, only about five to eight varieties are widely used.
From artificial selection, to monocultures for mass production, to genetic modification, the industrialization of agriculture – and the supply chains that distribute these products – has whittled away the variety of vegetables that wind up on our tables... (MORE - details)
https://youtu.be/EkJnOWGCejQ
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/EkJnOWGCejQ
INTRO: Most of us aren't eating anywhere near enough vegetables, and we're suffering the health consequences. Meanwhile, we're also growing fewer and fewer varieties of vegetables, adding to the declining diversity in our diets.
A new report published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by an international team of nutrition, agriculture, and botany experts suggests embracing vegetable biodiversity could be key to improving our own health, and that of our planet.
Agriculture scientist Maarten van Zonneveld, who led the research while working at the World Vegetable Center, says our existing approaches to agriculture are not enough to solve the world's nutrition problems.
"The solution isn't simply to grow more vegetables – it's also to grow more kinds of vegetables," he says. "Much of the vegetable biodiversity we need is still out there – in traditional varieties and their wild relatives. The urgency is to conserve it properly so that we can use it wisely to diversify diets amid climate change."
The study suggests we're overlooking lots of vegetables rich in minerals and vitamins that might also be better suited to local growing conditions, depending on where in the world you live. Across the world, most people consume around 40 percent fewer vegetables than recommended for a healthy diet.
That's concerning, given low consumption of vegetables is among the top five dietary risk factors contributing to the global burden of disease. [...] Before agriculture became industrialized, there was a much greater diversity of plants being grown for food. For instance, there are more than 4,000 different varieties of potatoes, but in the United States, only about five to eight varieties are widely used.
From artificial selection, to monocultures for mass production, to genetic modification, the industrialization of agriculture – and the supply chains that distribute these products – has whittled away the variety of vegetables that wind up on our tables... (MORE - details)
https://youtu.be/EkJnOWGCejQ