Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences
Open Access
ISSN: 2155-9600
ISSN: 2155-9600
Arnold Finck
AcceptedAbstracts: J Nutr Food Sci
Higher yield is the first goal, but food quality is equally important, i.e. the content of the 50 essential nutrients (about 25 organic nutrients like amino acids and vitamins, further about 25 mineral nutrients from sodium, magnesium to selenium and chromium) required by humans or domestic animals for good health. Here just a typical example. Lung tuberculosis was an epidemic in Europe for centuries, with only small prospects of recovery. In England in 1850, about 3000 people died per year and many more suffered from the symptoms. The responsible bacteria were detected in 1882, but no effective cure could be found until chemotherapy about 1940. In the mean-time, however, the death rate of tuberculosis in England declined from 3000 to only 500 per year. Beyond better hygienic conditions, obviously, very important was the higher and better food supply, mainly due to mineral fertilization starting around 1850-1880. This resulted in an improved nutritional status in the population with more valuable essential nutrients (amino acids, vitamins and mineral nutrients). It appears to be highly plausible that this caused the remarkable decrease of tuberculosis, due to an improvement of the body?s innate immune system. To sum up, the great epidemic tuberculosis has been conquered much more by modern agriculture than by medicine: Agriculture as Guardian of Health.