• Can Garlic Help You Win a Woman Over? Scientists Explore How Food Affects Dating

  Before a first date, it is worth thinking about more than just what to wear — what you eat may also make a difference. Researchers have found that diet can influence first impressions, affecting everything from skin tone and body odor to facial flushing and even pupil size...

• How to Preserve the Taste of Home on the Other Side of the World: French Publisher to Release Siblings Zarzavadjian’s Book on Armenian Diaspora Cuisine

  From Argentina and Lebanon to Australia and Japan, Armenian cuisine has long lived far beyond Armenia’s borders, evolving under the influence of new countries, ingredients and family stories...

• Cheese Is Fine, but Go Easy on the Butter: Scientists Reveal Which Fatty Foods Are Actually Healthy

  For years, we were told that fatty foods were bad for us: people were advised to replace whole milk with skimmed milk, butter with spreads, and eat cheese as rarely as possible. But new research suggests the picture is more complicated...

• A Marathon with Wine and Oysters: France’s Wildest Race

  What pairs best with a rich red wine from Bordeaux? As it turns out, a marathon...

• British Woman Reclaims Guinness World Record by Devouring a Burrito in 30 Seconds

  Leah Shutkever, 36, from Birmingham, already held 42 records when she set her latest world-best time. Her previous achievements include eating a Domino’s pizza in under a minute and polishing off an entire chocolate orange in just 57 seconds...

• Japanese Ice at $1.50 a Cube: The New Luxury Status Symbol at the World’s Best Bars

  In the historic Japanese city of Kanazawa, craftsmen carefully shape and carve enormous blocks of ice destined to chill Negronis in some of the world’s most fashionable bars, AFP reports...

• The Unappetizing Truth About Sushi: Scientists Find Parasites in 96% of Tuna

  If you were planning to order a sushi platter tonight, you may want to reconsider. A new study has found that tuna can be teeming with parasitic worms...

• Leonardo da Vinci as a Culinary Genius: What the Great Artist Ate, Cooked and Created in the Kitchen

  Imagine Leonardo da Vinci not standing in front of an easel in his workshop, but in a kitchen. Instead of a paintbrush, he has a knife; instead of a palette, a chopping board. Nearby lies a drawing of a mechanism designed to make a cook’s work easier, while Leonardo himself is jotting down unusual food combinations and creating his own recipes...

Fruits and vegetables may contain significantly fewer nutrients than they did 60 years ago. According to a new study, levels of several essential minerals and vitamins in agricultural produce have fallen by 20% to 50%. Researchers cite declining soil quality as one of the main reasons, the New York Post reports.

The findings come from specialists at British research company Deep Science Ventures. According to their analysis, fruits and vegetables grown in the United States today contain lower levels of vital nutrients, including vitamin C, calcium and iron.

To obtain the same amount of certain minerals — such as copper, magnesium and potassium — that foods contained in the 1960s, people may now need to eat twice as many fruits and vegetables. Declining levels of several essential nutrients have also affected bread, grain products, apples, peas and carrots.

“For 60 years, we have measured food security in terms of calories… And by that measure, we have achieved remarkable results,” wrote Will Summers, one of the report’s authors.

“But all this time, we have been quietly hollowing out the nutritional content of our food,” the researcher added.

Since the beginning of the so-called Green Revolution in the 1960s, agriculture has achieved substantial increases in global food production and cereal crop yields. However, the study’s authors note that the emphasis was placed on the quantity of food produced rather than its nutritional value.

The result is a problem scientists call “hidden hunger”: people may consume enough calories while still lacking essential vitamins and minerals. Researchers estimate that around two billion people worldwide suffer from this form of malnutrition.

The problem is compounded by the growing prevalence of ultra-processed foods, which are often high in calories but fail to provide the body with sufficient amounts of essential nutrients. This can contribute to what is known as the “triple burden of malnutrition,” in which obesity can coexist with micronutrient deficiencies.

To assess the changes, researchers compared historical food composition databases with agricultural crop archives. Among other sources, they examined wheat samples collected over a period of 160 years. The findings point to a systematic decline in the mineral and protein content of several major food crops — in some cases, by 20% to 50%.

The consequences extend far beyond nutrition. According to the report’s authors, micronutrient deficiencies cost some countries the equivalent of up to 3% of their GDP each year through reduced labour productivity and increased healthcare spending. Nutrient deficiencies also raise the risk of chronic diseases, pregnancy complications and developmental problems in children.

Researchers warn that the problem could worsen over the coming decades. They identify rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, soil degradation and agricultural policies focused primarily on increasing yields as key risk factors.

To address the issue, the authors propose rethinking the very concept of food security by assessing not only the availability and quantity of food but also its nutritional value. Other recommended measures include establishing nationwide systems to monitor nutrient levels in food and promoting farming practices designed to restore organic matter in the soil.

According to the researchers, improving soil quality could benefit not only human health but farmers themselves by enhancing crop quality and strengthening the economic sustainability of agriculture.

Follow NEWS.am STYLE on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram