Bear Baseline: A Contribution on the Nutrient Levels in Foods
Sometimes finding a solid scientific baseline of the nutrient content of American foods is all too obvious. Take for example the much celebrated report by Firman E. Bear of Rutgers University, a fine scientist with a PhD in biochemistry and bacteriology, he was Professor and Chairman of the Department of Soils at Rutgers.
This particular report of Bear is often misquoted and misrepresented. Even so, the original purpose of the report and its findings remain true and useful: to compare the mineral composition of vegetables grown in soils over a wide geographical area in the United States.
Over a half century ago Bear set out to study variations of mineral content in 5 vegetables grown in numerous soil types. From his paper Bear writes, "Samples of cabbage, lettuce, snap beans, spinach, and tomatoes were obtained from commercial fields of these crops in Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York (Long Island), Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Colorado. The total number of samples examined was 204". His results demonstrated wide differences of mineral content of the vegetables he tested. He linked those results to soils, climate and fertilizer factors from which his vegetable samples grew.
This celebrated study, published in 1948, was documented with hundreds of samples collected from numerous soils types stretching from states in the north to the south and from east to as far west as Colorado.
The findings constitute one of the earliest baselines on the variation of nutrient content of vegetables in soils growing American foods. These variations were determined by one to one mineral content analysis of the soils from which the vegetables grew and the vegetables so produced: the mineral content of the soil reflected the mineral content of the vegetable.
We can easily say the results were widely different and be persuaded that the seeming truthiness of different soils growing different crops of varying nutrient content is actually true and verifiable. It is because of this study a solid baseline has been established from which we can scientifically measure changes in our foods over time.
From this contribution we now have the Bear Baseline of 1948 on the Variation of Mineral Composition in Vegetables.
This particular report of Bear is often misquoted and misrepresented. Even so, the original purpose of the report and its findings remain true and useful: to compare the mineral composition of vegetables grown in soils over a wide geographical area in the United States.
Over a half century ago Bear set out to study variations of mineral content in 5 vegetables grown in numerous soil types. From his paper Bear writes, "Samples of cabbage, lettuce, snap beans, spinach, and tomatoes were obtained from commercial fields of these crops in Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York (Long Island), Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Colorado. The total number of samples examined was 204". His results demonstrated wide differences of mineral content of the vegetables he tested. He linked those results to soils, climate and fertilizer factors from which his vegetable samples grew.
This celebrated study, published in 1948, was documented with hundreds of samples collected from numerous soils types stretching from states in the north to the south and from east to as far west as Colorado.
The findings constitute one of the earliest baselines on the variation of nutrient content of vegetables in soils growing American foods. These variations were determined by one to one mineral content analysis of the soils from which the vegetables grew and the vegetables so produced: the mineral content of the soil reflected the mineral content of the vegetable.
We can easily say the results were widely different and be persuaded that the seeming truthiness of different soils growing different crops of varying nutrient content is actually true and verifiable. It is because of this study a solid baseline has been established from which we can scientifically measure changes in our foods over time.
From this contribution we now have the Bear Baseline of 1948 on the Variation of Mineral Composition in Vegetables.
Labels: food, minerals, nutrients, nutritional composition, soils, vegetables, vitamins
posted by Herb Dreyer at 10:15 AM
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