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Comment by giantg2 | Hacker News Reader

Magnesium is also decreasing due to produce being less nutritious than 100 years ago.

I think magnesium supplementation is important also because of its connection to depression. Zink also a good idea, but iron ? I think many men have too much of it because there is not enough bleeding (insect bites, etc...) in modern society.

Absolutely. But also, consider some natural sources as well. Cashews and Pumpkin seeds are pretty dense with magnesium, as well as nuts in general. I've calculated the relative mineral density of many many foods: https://kale.world/c

Cool site but some of the foods I don’t recognize: Waxgourd? Fireweed ? Nopales? And many others.

Well, once you really start learning about lots of healthy natural foods, you'll start to recognize these more. Waxgourd is a large melon that tastes great in smoothies with a bit of pepper and honey. Or you can turn it into a tasty soup, as done in chinese cuisine. Nopales are a bit more present in mexican cooking, you know those big spiky plate like plants. Many of the other plants on there sometimes grow freely in your backyard: like dandelion, dock, purslane. Some people use derogatory references such as "weeds" to refer to them but it's highly innaccurate. these plants are some of the most nutritious things you can eat, you just need to know how to cook them and how to adjust your taste buds to all the great foods humans used to eat on a regular basis. I've been on a journey to understand all the natural foods found in nature, and it's quite a learning process as we've been so conditioned (in the wrong direction) by industry on what food is.

There's over 80,000 edible plant species in the world. I only know a few of them. But, I hope to get to know more of them over time.

Cool site, the sliders are super intuitive for exploration. I was pleasantly surprised to see Cauliflower rank high in Choline, it's more readily available from animal sources. Do the portion sizes differ for each item? Eggs have 7.6x times Choline from Cauliflower per 100g based on USDA data:

Cauliflower nutrition: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/169986/n...

Eggs nutrition: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/748967/n...

the portion sizes are all normalized to 200 calories. The nice thing about that is it gives you a great way of comparing caloric equal portion sizes.

True but this is due to selection of faster growing varietals by farms. If you buy old-school vegetables you get old-school vitamins and minerals. Buy direct, buy fresh, buy local.

> If you buy old-school vegetables you get old-school vitamins and minerals. Buy direct, buy fresh, buy local.

You're going to have some problems during winter.

This is why canning and food preservation was so important

Only for the local part, not as it pertains to the vitamins. Notwithstanding, year-round most of the produce in large grocery stores isn't local and will never be.

Actually, the stuff in the store has usually been in warehouses for long periods of time. During that time, they lose nutrients.

Some, probably vitamin C. But that can be recouped with produce that always has lots anyway, e.g. tomatoes.

Not just vitamin C. B vitamins can be reduced by up to 70%. There is degradation with many other nutrients as well.

"Up to" doesn't paint a realistic picture, but it's a moot point. Nutritional deficits in the West are a result of poor consumption choices, not the lack of nutrition in produce.

Eat stuff that grows in winter? Hardy vegetables have their season now in many latitudes, it's not that tricky. If you live in the tundra I am sorry for you and please move to Costa Rica if your skin can tolerate it.

> it's not that tricky

Are you serious? I live at 39.75 latitude in the USA with strong winters with snow and ice. There’s no way you’re growing vegetables in winter here without a greenhouse. You have no idea what you’re talking about. Do you live in California?

This is true of the Midwest, and anything in the Northeast north of say, Wilmington Delaware or even Baltimore depending on the year.

I live in a place conducive to human life and not a barren wasteland, yes. Y'all should move here! It's Lisbon by the way.

You think everyone who lives anywhere with snow in the winter should move to Portugal?

No, anywhere in a moderate climate will do.

That's only part of the issue. Soil composition is another part. Those "old-school" vegetables also need to be grown in old-school soil, using natural fertilizer (or at least fertilizers with additional minerals beyond the typical stuff).

It's also, the actual air. There's more CO2 in the air these days. this super charges the growth of plants: vegetables and cereal crops. But, the amount of minerals in the plant remains the same but the plants grow larger with more sugar content. and so the amount nutrients per calories drops. this has been proven and documented.

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