You are what your food ate: the health connection in the soil

An apple a day keeps the doctor away, goes the saying about the role of diet in overall health. New research however suggests that good health is less about the quantity of produce we ingest, and more about quality. Soil health makes all the difference in growing food that fills versus food that nourishes. Lindi Botha reports.

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In a world where food availability has risen substantially, why do we still face such a high level of malnutrition? And how is it possible that we see both obesity and malnutrition in the same person? The answer lies in the nutrient density – or lack thereof – of our foods.

The Green Revolution brought about many advances in agricultural practices that resulted in substantially bigger yields. But nutrient levels have for the most part not been maintained, leading to a diet of abundant calories but a deficit of nutrients. Consumers today have to increasingly rely on pharmaceutical vitamins to get their daily dose of vitamins and minerals since the food they eat does not provide it.

Cathy Burns, CEO of the International Fresh Produce Association, says it’s becoming ever clearer that the solution to our health challenges is not found in the pharm but on the farm. She notes that among the lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic is the connection between what we eat and how we feel. “People have finally figured out we cannot medicate our way out of diseases and ailments.”

In this regard, agriculturalists have also started figuring out that food crops can’t be ‘medicated’ out of disease and ailments either. Plants need as much of a healthy environment, with top-quality food to thrive as humans do.

University of Washington geomorphologist David Montgomery, who co-authored