conscious consumption 187
Austin, who studied fi fty - year changes in U.S. Department
of Agriculture food composition data for thirteen nutrients
in forty - three commonly consumed fruits and vegetables.
Declines in median concentrations of six nutrients from the
1950s to 1999 included a 6 percent decline in protein, a
9 percent decline in phosphorus, a 15 percent decline in
iron, a 16 percent decline in calcium, a 20 percent decline
in vitamin C, and a 38 percent decline in ribofl avin.
In addition, research from the Department of Agriculture
compared the micronutrient content of fourteen different
varieties of wheat introduced from 1873 to 2000, a period
during which the amount of grain harvested more than tripled
per acre. Although during those 130 years, the yield of the
common U.S. hard red winter wheat crop soared, its nutri-
tional content declined dramatically: iron by 28 percent, zinc
by about 34 percent, and selenium by about 36 percent.These nutritional reductions are taking a serious toll on our
health, with the folks at the top of the food chain in agribusiness
and politics being the main fi nancial benefi ciaries.
These few examples provide just a small cross - section of the
mind - boggling data found in the aptly titled review. While we may
think that our producing more food and paying a lower percentage
of our income for groceries than ever before are good things, many of
the real costs of our food are hidden. These hidden costs, which we
as taxpayers fi nance, are beginning to be noticed by an increasingly
larger and sicker population.
While 66 percent of U.S. adults are overweight or obese, approx-
imately 840 million people worldwide suffer from chronic hunger,
and more than 3 billion — or half of the world ’ s population — suffer
from an insidious defi ciency of particular nutrients. Many are
unconsciously supporting our conventional farming system, which
is focused on making greater profi ts for agribusiness giants, while
narrowing our seed and food choices to those that are more lucra-
tive yet nutritionally inferior. Huge agribusinesses also increase our
dependence on chemicals (pesticides, insecticides, and fertilizers),