No matter how far fruits or vegetables travel, whether they鈥檙e grown organically or conventionally, they鈥檙e packed with vitamins, minerals and other necessary nutrients. The men and women in the fields try to grow foods with an eye to boosting the health factor, but researchers say it鈥檚 hard to measure the precise impact.
Consider the orange, a fruit high in vitamin C, which boosts the body鈥檚 immune system. One from a tree in Florida and another of the same variety grown in California won鈥檛 have identical values of the scurvy-fighting vitamin.
鈥淭here's going to be slight differences in the amount of vitamin C by the cultivar, the type of fruit that it is, where it's grown, how long it's been on the store shelves,鈥� Iowa State University food science and human nutrition professor Ruth MacDonald says.
The differences might even be significant, but she says, 鈥渋t's really what you eat on a weekly basis that really makes the most impact.鈥� MacDonald, who鈥檚 also an interim senior associate dean, adds it鈥檚 鈥渘ot one single nutrient in one piece of fruit at a time.鈥�
It鈥檚 also really hard to make comparisons because there are so many variables on a farm and not a lot of public or private research money available to study nutritional variation among varieties.
Breeders鈥� choice
Plant breeders and farmers tend to look at growing foods with specific qualities in mind.
鈥淭hey usually check for acidity, sugar content, soluble solids, lycopene,鈥� North Carolina State University extension horticulture specialist Chris Gunter says.
But neither farmers nor consumers will pick something like a tomato for its lycopene 鈥� an antioxidant that gives tomatoes their red color, and is thought to have health benefits 鈥� alone.
Farmers will pick varieties they expect will grow well in their soil, with their climate conditions and their preferred fertilizers or pesticides.
But there鈥檚 the customer to keep in mind, too, who might want a soft or bright red or juicy tomato or one with lower acidity.
鈥淧eople are very interested in, does the whole fruit, consumption of this fruit, impact my health as a consumer?鈥� Gunter says.
From the farm
It鈥檚 a balance Jeff Hafner strives to achieve. He and his family run Early Morning Harvest, a diverse farm in Panora, Iowa.
With produce, he adheres to one guiding principle: 鈥淚f you don't think it looks right, throw it out. Chickens will eat it.鈥�
Those vegetables will contribute nutrients to the eggs they lay; Hafner says every aspect of the farm nurtures another.
鈥淭he more nutrients in the system, the healthier the system's going to be,鈥� says Hafner, 鈥渢he healthier the products are going to be, the more nutrient dense the products are going to be.鈥�
The chickens鈥� eggs, for example, tend to have dark yolks, which he says reflects the hens鈥� varied and nutrient-rich diet. He doesn鈥檛 know whether that makes the eggs healthier for people, but it鈥檚 one of the reasons customers come back, along with the cache of a 鈥渇arm-fresh egg鈥� and, Hafner adds, 鈥渦sually the taste, also.鈥�
His produce grows in an aquaponics greenhouse, where tanks of tilapia create water that鈥檚 rich with beneficial bacteria. He uses the water for his kale, lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers in a process he鈥檚 had to figure out over time.
鈥淢y first crop of lettuce in aquaponics was white,鈥� Hafner says, 鈥渂ecause it was built around nitrogen. As the system matured, the crops were healthier.鈥�
In general, he tries to be transparent about how he grows the food and lets consumers decide whether it meets their needs.
Adding nutrients
As important as farming practices can be, MacDonald says they鈥檙e not the most efficient way to increase a food鈥檚 healthfulness. That is best done in a lab or at a processing center, where iron is added back into flour and milk is fortified with vitamin D.
鈥淚t's easier to add the nutrients to the food after the fact,鈥� she says, 鈥渁nd it's more consistent and it's more bioavailable.鈥�
The USDA keeps two databases to help people understand where the nutrients are in their food: The lists the nutritional traits of a wide variety of foods, including fresh vegetables and specific brands of packaged foods. A separate database, the , compares which foods have provided Americans with which nutrients historically (spoiler alert: we鈥檙e eating more ).
The takeaway? Don鈥檛 skip the fruits and veggies, just eat a variety to get the best possible array of their benefits.
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