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Diet Doctor Podcast · June 5, 2023 · 43m
Does Healthy Soil Mean Healthy Humans?
Dr. Scher explores the connection between soil health and human nutrition — how depleted soils produce nutrient-poor crops, regenerative agriculture, and whether soil microbiome health connects to human gut microbiome health.
Highlights
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Soil micronutrient depletion means modern produce has lower nutrient density than 50 years ago
Scher: USDA data shows that the mineral content of fruits and vegetables has declined 5-40% over the past 50 years. Modern agricultural practices — monoculture, synthetic fertilizers, rapid growth varieties — produce crops that grow faster but absorb fewer micronutrients.•
Regenerative agriculture may restore nutrient density — the soil microbiome feeds the plant microbiome feeds the human microbiome
Scher: regenerative agriculture (cover cropping, no-till, composting, rotational grazing) restores soil microbial diversity, which may improve crop nutrient density. The soil-plant-gut microbiome connection is an emerging frontier in nutrition science.