“An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” was a phrase coined in the 1950s and is still in use today. However, one of the standout comments from this year’s National Biological Conference was that today, you would need to eat around 54 apples of modern-day varieties in order to get the equivalent nutritional value as that of a 1950’s apple.
Over the past several decades, the nutritional density and concentrations of vitamins, minerals and micronutrients have steadily decreased in fresh fruits and vegetables, explained Dan Kitteridge, who spoke on day one of the conference. The decline in the nutritional density of the food we eat correlates to the increase in degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, diabetes and heart disease over the same period. While correlation doesn’t explicitly equal causation, Dan, along with many others, believes that the focus must be shifted towards the nutritional value of the food we produce and purchase.
Dan, who is the founder of the Bionutrient Food Association, demonstrated to attendees the first prototype of a revolutionary new handheld sensor which can read and measure the nutrient density of food.
Listen to "This new device will change the way consumers buy food" on Spreaker.
Spectroscopy
Spectroscopy refers to the study of how light interacts with matter and can be used to determine the structure and functional groups in organic compounds. The technology has long been used on space satellites for determining the composition of stars. Spectrometers on these satellites can read the light emitted from stars and analyse its composition, once the frequency of the compounds emitted are known. Dan and his team have taken this technology and developed a handheld version specifically for fruit and vegetables. The sensor shines a non-intrusive beam of light at the piece of food and can read its relative nutritional value.
“The idea is that consumers can see for themselves the nutritional value of, say, a carrot, in a store and make their decisions based on that,” he explains.
The real challenge is to be able to translate that reading into a metric that can be used by consumers. This will be an ongoing process and the organisation has partnered with a number of data partners such as universities, research institutions and many more, from five continents. These partners will help build the data sets necessary to determine the definition of nutritious food.
Dan Kittredge speaking at the 2018 Biological Farming Conference.
Open source
All the plans and information on the hardware and software will be fully open source, meaning that anyone can download the plans and data sets of the device from the website. He expects this technology to become standard on mobile phones in the near future.
Applications
While one aim of this device is to increase consumers’ awareness of the nutritional content of the food they buy, Dan also expects it will become an important agronomy tool. With the correct data sets, plant leaves could be scanned to determine if they are lacking in essential nutrients and if action needs to be taken.
In addition to this, he explained how a plant is better able to defend itself more effectively from pest and disease attack when it is healthier. Ultimately, this will help reduce farmers’ reliance on pesticides and other inputs.
You are what you eat
Dan explains that human beings’ ability to detect flavour and aroma are actually sophisticated tools which can help determine quality.
Humans require a fully balanced, nutritional diet. Dan believes that this can be achieved entirely through the food we grow, but until this is driven at consumer level the change in focus may be slow to come. This new tool aims to do just that. Listen to the full interview with Dan online.
Read more
IFA potato report: growers disappointed with yields but happy with quality
Big variations in 2018 potato yields
“An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” was a phrase coined in the 1950s and is still in use today. However, one of the standout comments from this year’s National Biological Conference was that today, you would need to eat around 54 apples of modern-day varieties in order to get the equivalent nutritional value as that of a 1950’s apple.
Over the past several decades, the nutritional density and concentrations of vitamins, minerals and micronutrients have steadily decreased in fresh fruits and vegetables, explained Dan Kitteridge, who spoke on day one of the conference. The decline in the nutritional density of the food we eat correlates to the increase in degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, diabetes and heart disease over the same period. While correlation doesn’t explicitly equal causation, Dan, along with many others, believes that the focus must be shifted towards the nutritional value of the food we produce and purchase.
Dan, who is the founder of the Bionutrient Food Association, demonstrated to attendees the first prototype of a revolutionary new handheld sensor which can read and measure the nutrient density of food.
Listen to "This new device will change the way consumers buy food" on Spreaker.
Spectroscopy
Spectroscopy refers to the study of how light interacts with matter and can be used to determine the structure and functional groups in organic compounds. The technology has long been used on space satellites for determining the composition of stars. Spectrometers on these satellites can read the light emitted from stars and analyse its composition, once the frequency of the compounds emitted are known. Dan and his team have taken this technology and developed a handheld version specifically for fruit and vegetables. The sensor shines a non-intrusive beam of light at the piece of food and can read its relative nutritional value.
“The idea is that consumers can see for themselves the nutritional value of, say, a carrot, in a store and make their decisions based on that,” he explains.
The real challenge is to be able to translate that reading into a metric that can be used by consumers. This will be an ongoing process and the organisation has partnered with a number of data partners such as universities, research institutions and many more, from five continents. These partners will help build the data sets necessary to determine the definition of nutritious food.
Dan Kittredge speaking at the 2018 Biological Farming Conference.
Open source
All the plans and information on the hardware and software will be fully open source, meaning that anyone can download the plans and data sets of the device from the website. He expects this technology to become standard on mobile phones in the near future.
Applications
While one aim of this device is to increase consumers’ awareness of the nutritional content of the food they buy, Dan also expects it will become an important agronomy tool. With the correct data sets, plant leaves could be scanned to determine if they are lacking in essential nutrients and if action needs to be taken.
In addition to this, he explained how a plant is better able to defend itself more effectively from pest and disease attack when it is healthier. Ultimately, this will help reduce farmers’ reliance on pesticides and other inputs.
You are what you eat
Dan explains that human beings’ ability to detect flavour and aroma are actually sophisticated tools which can help determine quality.
Humans require a fully balanced, nutritional diet. Dan believes that this can be achieved entirely through the food we grow, but until this is driven at consumer level the change in focus may be slow to come. This new tool aims to do just that. Listen to the full interview with Dan online.
Read more
IFA potato report: growers disappointed with yields but happy with quality
Big variations in 2018 potato yields
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