Sofia Perez

The mouth is an underappreciated organ. It is the place where our voices leave our bodies, where food enters in. It allows us to give; it allows us to take. Think of all the interactions that happen there on a daily basis and how they influence your life. To narrow it down to the food we eat and the things we say, we’re already led to consider communication, ideas, diet, nutrition, taste, expression, comfort. It seems like a soap opera’s worth of drama. 

However the actual link between language and nutrition hasn’t really been analyzed on a deep level, and is often overlooked for other ties. For now, let’s explain why this connection is important by linking it to part of the system that brings us food in the first place: agriculture. 

First and foremost, how are nutrition and agriculture actually connected? Surely, wherever and however you grow a tomato, it is still, at the end of the day, a tomato. While this is somewhat true, from a biochemical perspective, there are huge variations in the nutritional value of a crop based on the soil it was grown from, the pesticides & herbicides used, and the stage in its growth at which it was harvested. However all of this is happening at an invisible level, so in the eyes of a consumer, these crucial changes are easy to overlook. 

Unfortunately, nutrition is one of those complicated political things that has one foot in the fads of diet culture, another in the world of biased research, another in medical journals, and yet another in tradition. So you will find that nutrition is not a normal two-footed beast. Instead, it’s a mammoth-octopus of an issue, with plenty of subjectivity to boot. 

For this reason, I won’t go into the pros and cons of any particular diet. Instead, I will analyze the agricultural system’s impact on the general nutrition of all food that it produces and its effect on the health of our bodies now and of future generations. Then I will discuss how modern day agricultural systems have affected these processes.

To begin with, let’s talk about nutrition and agriculture. How does one influence the other and why does it matter? First stop: dirt. Zoom in and you will see a metropolis of microorganisms that work for the ecosystem by breaking down organic matter, filtering water, regulating the soil fertility, providing nutrients for plant growth and even controlling pests and pathogens. This goes back to the need for biodiversity, highlighting the incredibly complex world that nourishes our crops over their lifetimes. As an example, let’s say you were to take two soil samples, one from the chronically overworked soil found when farming the same crop with no break in between, the other from a smaller farm with a variety of crops that change based on season. On the surface, both seem pretty similar, but really the micro-metropolis of each is drastically different. In the soil from the monoculture, you will find a ghost town with little life, meaning the soil is less fertile and capable of carrying out all those processes I mentioned earlier. On the other hand, the second sample will be like a flourishing city filled with activity. 

Most modern highly-centralized agriculture today disregards this important part of a plant’s growth by prioritizing the need for control over pests and providing certain nutrients in excess. Not only does this pollute waterways, cause eutrophication, contaminate groundwater, and decrease the amount of nutrients per pound of crops, but it damages the rich diversity of our soil. 

Yet the barrage on soil doesn’t end there. It is compounded by the use of monocultures in most farm settings. This means that only one crop is grown year round without giving the soil any time to rest. Imagine the burnout you might feel after having no vacation from work or school for an entire year. This is similar to what’s happening to all the bacteria, fungi, protozoa & nematodes in the soil. The solution? Crop rotations or permaculture, which are both ways of giving the soil a greater variety of crops and a little more rest as a result. This adds more nutrients to the soil and restores the soil’s fertility, allowing every pound of crop harvested to be more nutrient-dense… and more nutrient-dense food gives more nutrition. 

You can think of it similar to a human diet requiring a diverse range of foods. Like this, the soil requires a diverse range of organic matter and living plants to cultivate a variety of microorganisms. Imagine if you only ate one food for the rest of your life. You would experience nutrient deficiencies, fatigue, and a mountain of other health issues. The soil is much the same and requires rest and diversity to stay fertile. Crop rotation helps achieve this, as it periodically changes the crops that are harvested from the soil..

Now onto why this matters at all. At first it might be obvious. “I need to eat more nutrient-dense oranges so I don’t suffer from night blindness and dry skin.”; “I need more iron so I don’t get anemia.”; “I need vitamin C so I don’t get scurvy.” While you would be spot on, there is a much scarier idea to consider here: What if our food changed the expression of our genes? What if it even affects how they are passed on to our children? 

If this is enough to send chills down your spine, then I suggest you take a look at Dr. Cate and Luke Shanahan’s book Deep Nutrition, which discusses the influence of food on epigenetics. 

To summarize, let’s start by stating what epigenetics actually is. According to an article by Hyeran Jang and Carlo Serra, Nutrition, Epigenetics, and Diseases, it is “the field dedicated to the heritable features that complements the genetic information stored in the DNA sequence”. In essence, this has to do with DNA modifications and the interactions of microRNAs with the genome. One way to think about this is by imagining a movie. Let’s call it The Single-Celled Soap Opera. The cells in your body would be the actors and the DNA in each cell’s nucleus would be the script. Now that we have actors and script, we need someone to direct the film. In this case, the director would be your epigenome. 

As we all know, a director can make or break a movie. The same is the case for epigenetics. So when we tamper with it by exposing ourselves to the wrong environmental stimuli, such as food which lacks nutrition, our epigenome acts as a less skilled director for all those cells and DNA, leading to undesired consequences such as disease, cancer, etc. Epigenetic changes occur all throughout our life, so it is important to be wary of how we influence these chemical signals. In Shanahan’s Deep Nutrition, she challenges her readers to shift their perspective of food as a source of calories to think of it as information that provides our bodies with the right building-blocks for development. When it comes to nutrition, the focus should be eating food that sends the signal to keep us young, healthy and intelligent by supporting tissues in places like our muscles, bones, and joints while not creating inflammation. The obvious way to implement this is by reducing our consumption of overly processed foods, but what if even ‘healthy’ foods have become less nutrient-dense?

According to this article from Scientific American, a Kushi Institute analysis of nutrient data from 1975 to 1997 found that average calcium levels in 12 fresh vegetables dropped 27%; iron levels 37%; vitamin A levels 21%, and vitamin C levels 30%. A similar study of nutrient data in Britain from 1930 to 1980, published in the British Food Journal found that in 20 vegetables the average calcium content had declined 19%; iron 22%; and potassium 14%. In addition to this, another study estimated that to get the same amount of Vitamin A as “our grandparents” would have gotten from one orange, we would have to eat eight!

After pondering all this, perhaps you’re feeling quite powerless. Where do we go to find nutrient-dense food that will produce the desired results epigenetically? Whose dietary advice do we follow? Who is making sure that everyone receives the right amount of safe, high-quality food that meets their nutritional requirements?

To be candid, there is no easy answer. The systems impacting food security globally are still facing high levels of malnutrition, undernutrition, and increasing levels of disease. However what is in place is a Universal Declaration of Human Rights that provides global leaders with the right priorities. Article 25 is of particular interest to me in regard to food security:

• Article 25: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control…”

In addition, we have the the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, many of which relate to the issue of food security (e.g. No poverty, zero hunger, good health & wellbeing, clean water & sanitation, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities & communities, climate action, etc.).

With all this in mind, we can conclude that improving agricultural practices in order to improve nutrition should be a priority. We all eat food and it impacts everyone’s epigenetics, whether you are an impoverished farmer earning below minimum wage, or a Hollywood actress with a personal dietician. 

Now that we know why it’s so important to build a system that supports everyone, let’s move on to how we can accomplish this in my next article. 

Thought to Action:

• Share this article with at least 3 people
• Contact your local MP/Congressperson
• Suggested reading: Deep Nutrition by Dr. Cate Shanahan
• Try out the Too Good to Go app, which aims to decrease food waste by allowing you to rescue surplus food from local businesses
• Ask local restaurants if they could donate their extra food to a foodbank 

Bibliography:

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (n.d.). Nutrition. [online] Available at: https://www.fao.org/nutrition/en/.

Haddad, L. and Oshaug, A. (2002). Nutrition and Agriculture A R N E O S H A U G A N D L AW R E N C E H A D D A D NUTRITION A FOUNDATION FOR DEVELOPMENT A FOUNDATION FOR DEVELOPMENT. [online] Available at: https://www.unscn.org/files/Publications/Briefs_on_Nutrition/Brief6_EN.pdf.

Jang, H. and Serra, C. (2014). Nutrition, Epigenetics, and Diseases. Clinical Nutrition Research, 3(1), p.1. doi:10.7762/cnr.2014.3.1.1.

Li, X. and Qi, L. (2022). Epigenetics in Precision Nutrition. Journal of Personalized Medicine, [online] 12(4), p.533. doi:10.3390/jpm12040533.

Niculescu, M.D. (2012). Nutritional epigenetics. ILAR journal, [online] 53(3-4), pp.270–278. doi:10.1093/ilar.53.3-4.270.

Scientific American. (2011). Dirt Poor: Have Fruits and Vegetables Become Less Nutritious? [online] Available at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/soil-depletion-and-nutrition-loss/.

Shanahan, C. and Shanahan, L. (2018). Deep nutrition : why your genes need traditional food. New York: Flatiron Books.

Sharma, I.K., Di Prima, S., Essink, D. and Broerse, J.E.W. (2020). Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture: A Systematic Review of Impact Pathways to Nutrition Outcomes. Advances in Nutrition. doi:10.1093/advances/nmaa103.

Shekar, M. (2015). Nutrition and Agriculture: Bridging the Gap. [online] blogs.worldbank.org. Available at: https://blogs.worldbank.org/health/nutrition-and-agriculture-bridging-gap.

United Nations (1948). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. [online] United Nations. Available at: https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights.

United Nations (2015). The 17 sustainable development goals. [online] United Nations. Available at: https://sdgs.un.org/goals.

What is Epigenetics? (2018). A Super Brief and Basic Explanation of Epigenetics for Total Beginners. [online] Available at: https://www.whatisepigenetics.com/what-is-epigenetics/.