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Radio 4,19 Sep 2026,9 mins

Are carrots becoming less nutritious?

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Are fruit and vegetables less nutritious than they used to be? And is declining soil quality to blame? Loyal listener Sarah got in touch to ask us to investigate an interesting quote from Dr Karan Rajan in a 麻豆社 news story. 鈥淲e know our soil is not as nutrient dense as it was decades ago,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o a carrot in the 1950s will be far more nutrient-rich than a 2026 carrot.鈥� Is this really true? wondered Sarah. We wondered the same, so we spoke to some experts on fruit and veg nutrition to find out. CONTRIBUTORS Robin 鈥奙arles, a former senior scientist in Canada鈥檚 鈥奆ood and Nutrition Directorate Professor Steve McGrath, a research scientist at Rothamsted Research CREDITS Presenter: Tim Harford Series Producer: Tom Colls Production Co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele Sound Mix: Sue Maillot Editor: Richard Vadon

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