Did globalization and industrialization lead to an improvement in plant based diet from a nutritional point of view?
Some decades ago there was a very popular diet called macrobiotics, it tended to be too restrictive and maybe not all of its guidelines were sound, it raised however two important points, the return to a traditional diet of whole grains, legumes and vegetables and to traditional foods, that is, the ones that were consumed regionally for many centuries before global trade became generalized.
In other words despite of promoting a lot of expensive Japanese products it advocated a traditional local grown plant based diet as being the more healthy.
What changes did global trade and industrialization bring to it (from an European perspective)?
There seems to be a general agreement that the main diet in Europe in medieval times was whole grain plant based, as an example meat was excluded in non military monastic orders and even military had restrictions on it's consumption, the most devote would probably exclude animal products in general since they were considered libidinous, and notice we are talking of part of the upper class here. The general population, of course, would simply be forced by the circumstances.
One consequence is that people seem to have had great teeth.
Then came the age of discoveries, and what did it bring?
- Cane sugar, to ruin the teeth of the wealthy.
- Potatoes, a staple with less protein and fiber than whole grains. Maybe an increase in baldness since it seems to increase testosterone.
- Maize, which may not have been completely bad if the traditional method of preparation that activated B3 was preserved, it led instead to pelagra in populations that adopted it as its main staple.
Then came industrialization and what were the improvements?
- Beet sugar during the reign of Napoleon which generalized tooth problems.
- Widespread refinement of grains which led to nutritional deficiencies in plant based communities, since many of the important vitamins and minerals in a whole plant base diet are found in whole grains, like the vitamin B complex, zinc, selenium, etc. Promoting the consumption of animal products as the solution and leading to the idea that a plant based diet is insufficient.
-Intensive agriculture and other practices that it seems led to plant foods becoming less nutrient rich.
- Eventually to a dysfunctional high carb, nutrient deficient, fiber deficient, with lots of hidden fat diet in which carbs and by consequence grains end up being seen as the main culprit for the unhealthy consequences.
So did globalization and industrialization really lead to an improvement in plant based diet from a nutritional point of view?
And what is the perspective from other continents?
Some decades ago there was a very popular diet called macrobiotics, it tended to be too restrictive and maybe not all of its guidelines were sound, it raised however two important points, the return to a traditional diet of whole grains, legumes and vegetables and to traditional foods, that is, the ones that were consumed regionally for many centuries before global trade became generalized.
In other words despite of promoting a lot of expensive Japanese products it advocated a traditional local grown plant based diet as being the more healthy.
What changes did global trade and industrialization bring to it (from an European perspective)?
There seems to be a general agreement that the main diet in Europe in medieval times was whole grain plant based, as an example meat was excluded in non military monastic orders and even military had restrictions on it's consumption, the most devote would probably exclude animal products in general since they were considered libidinous, and notice we are talking of part of the upper class here. The general population, of course, would simply be forced by the circumstances.
One consequence is that people seem to have had great teeth.
Then came the age of discoveries, and what did it bring?
- Cane sugar, to ruin the teeth of the wealthy.
- Potatoes, a staple with less protein and fiber than whole grains. Maybe an increase in baldness since it seems to increase testosterone.
- Maize, which may not have been completely bad if the traditional method of preparation that activated B3 was preserved, it led instead to pelagra in populations that adopted it as its main staple.
Then came industrialization and what were the improvements?
- Beet sugar during the reign of Napoleon which generalized tooth problems.
- Widespread refinement of grains which led to nutritional deficiencies in plant based communities, since many of the important vitamins and minerals in a whole plant base diet are found in whole grains, like the vitamin B complex, zinc, selenium, etc. Promoting the consumption of animal products as the solution and leading to the idea that a plant based diet is insufficient.
-Intensive agriculture and other practices that it seems led to plant foods becoming less nutrient rich.
- Eventually to a dysfunctional high carb, nutrient deficient, fiber deficient, with lots of hidden fat diet in which carbs and by consequence grains end up being seen as the main culprit for the unhealthy consequences.
So did globalization and industrialization really lead to an improvement in plant based diet from a nutritional point of view?
And what is the perspective from other continents?
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