posted August 02, 2009 06:59 AM         

This fact has been widely documented and published for more than 60 years. Articles and books on the subject have been written by many notable doctors and pioneers in exposing the relationship between poor soil health, nutrient deficiencies and disease. Dr. Royal Lee, Dr. Bernard Jensen, Dr. Francis Pottinger, Dr. Weston Price, Dr, William Albrecht and Dr. Rene Quinton to name but a few. 70 years ago, in 1936 the US government in US Senate Document 264 from the 74th Congress stated: "Do you know that most of us today are suffering from certain dangerous diet deficiencies which cannot be remedied until the depleted soils from which our foods come are brought into proper mineral balance? The alarming fact is that foods, fruits and vegetables and grains, now being raised on millions of acres of land that no longer contain enough of certain needed minerals, are starving us - no matter how much of them we eat!" This government document was created 70 years ago. The U.S. government knew as far back as 1936 that our soil, thus our food supply was deficient in life sustaining and health promoting minerals. Has this situation changed for the better since then? No, it is far, far worse!

Our mineral deficient food supply is so bad that the largest anti-supplement, anti-health food, and anti-alternative medicine group, The American Medical Association, published two articles in their June 2002 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, reversing a long-standing anti-vitamin policy. Robert H. Fletcher, MD, MSc, and Kathleen M. Fairfield, MD, DrPH, of Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health concluded in their article, “A large proportion of the general population has less-than-optimal intakes of a number of vitamins, exposing them to increased disease risk. In addition, they counsel that, it appears prudent for all adults to take vitamin supplements.”

The average American eats a diet high in white sugar, white bread, white rice, sodas and “fast food”. Our foods are saturated with artificial dyes, flavorings, herbicides, pesticides, saturated fats, trans-fats, processed sugar, and excito-toxins like, MSG and Nutra-Sweet®. Our foods are either aided by growth hormones, antibiotics or genetic engineering. Our foods are microwaved, heat pasteurized & hot filled, reconstituted and fortified. You are what you eat. Think about that for a moment.

“In order for man to continue to live on earth, he must make some fundamental changes. He must look to the oceans of the world as a source of needed elements. These elements must be returned to the soil so that better quality and more healthful foods can be produced. Man must stop the destruction of the soil”

(Maynard Murray, M.D. (1910-1983).

”When we think of health, we usually don't think of dirt. But dirt, or soil, is the primary factor in maintaining our nutritional health because all our food comes from the earth. Since our bodies are literally composed of the ’dust of the earth,’ meaning minerals, healthy bodies are connected to healthy soil. If any element is missing from the soil, then it will be missing from the foods we eat and as a result, we will not be properly nourished. Unfortunately, our commercial methods of agriculture are not only depleting the soil of precious trace minerals, they are also destroying the ability of plants to be able to utilize those elements. Hence, our food is nutritionally deficient right from the start. To make matters worse, our food gets refined and more of its nutritional content is removed in the process. While there are still those diehards in the medical community who preach the old dogma that supplements aren't necessary if you eat a ’balanced diet,’ it is nonetheless a fact that animal feeds - ALL contain nutritional supplements. Agricultural experts recognize that farmers must supplement animal feeds. They know that grain and other foodstuffs do not contain enough nutrients to maintain healthy livestock without adding supplements. If animals can't stay healthy eating our modern crops, how can human beings?“
http://livingearthminerals.com/documents/27.html

Solutions to Mineral-Depleted Soils and Our Health

(NaturalNews) Many individuals are experimenting with, and producing, viable solutions to soil depletion. As discussed in a previous article (see www.naturalnews.com/024581.html), soil depletion is a serious problem for the world's population because of the quality of food. No longer can we rely on food to contain a good quantity of minerals and vitamins, especially food produced for, or by, large agribusiness organizations in mineral-depleted soils.

The richest countries in the world now have populations with reduced capacity to fight off disease due to weakened immune systems caused by an overload of chemicals in the body, as well as, by a lack of nutrients. The time is now to adopt solutions.

To those working with soil, the solutions are clear. The soil must have a biology; a viable ecosystem. Current farming practices have ensured a sterile ecosystem in which micro-organisms, nutrients, even natural life itself, are absent. The use of chemical fertilizers rids the soil of the good bacteria needed to sustain life.

According to Michael King (Herbalist, Author on self-healing, soil health, environment), a good soil needs five key elements (1). These are:

(1)A complex of the full range of minerals – clay (2), rock dust (3), seaweed and sea solids (4)
(2)A good amount of amorphous silica
(3)Humus/humic substances (dead organic material)
(4)Mycorrhizae (a crucial relationship between plant roots and fungi that improves nutrient uptake)
(5)Abundant soil biology

These elements encourage nutrient uptake, as well as unlock and modify minerals in the soil, creating a healthy ecosystem and thus, healthy, nutrient-rich plants.

Clay is typically formed from volcanic ash and acquired various organic and inorganic content over time. However one type of clay from north west USA, a pyrophyllite clay, is made underground and is reported to have a high amount of silica necessary to make minerals bio-available, as well as, the ability to detoxify soils, amongst other impressive qualities. (2)

According to Don Weaver (Author of To Love and Regenerate the Earth) in an article called Restoring Our Earth to Vibrant Health , California's largest organic farm, called Cal-Organic, used 3,000 tons of rock dust to re-mineralize the soil.
Rock dust is gravel from a range of rock types – glacial, river, and seashore. The dust contains a range of elements and trace minerals, and helps balance the pH level of the soil, as well as improves the soil biology, leading to better crops.

Many people have reported success using seaweed and other elements from the sea which contain a large amount of minerals. Like clay and rock dust, the benefits of ocean food is to improve biology of the soil as well as the uptake of nutrients.

The solution to improve the biology of the soil using the elements discussed can be implemented straightaway. Is there a need for any research, further debate or to wait any longer?

It is becoming clear that certain priorities will need to be established with regards to our health and that of the environment. How important are these as opposed to the financial welfare of organizations? How will health systems cope with more and more illness and who is to pay?

It will also be important to determine what role, if any, producers of agricultural chemicals will play. If they were savvy, they would have already started to work in partnership with us, the people. They would have clear and honest policies that overturn current untenable ones that have put money before our health, the health of wildlife, farm animals, and the environment. If they were concerned about us, they will acknowledge their mistake and work as an integrated, open, ethical body to ensure we have access to affordable, good quality nutrient-rich food.

We cannot rely on governments to protect our health, our finances maybe, but not our health. We can take action. We can buy organic food grown in nutrient-rich soils. We can refuse to buy canned fruits and vegetables, and we can refuse to buy fresh fruits and vegetables from supermarkets known to stock poor quality ones.