Soil quality and the nutritional integrity of crops: Impacts on micronutrients, bioactive compounds, and health-promoting foods
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31989/afbc.v3i4.1982Abstract
To meet the escalating food demands of the global population, contemporary agricultural farmers have prioritized increasing crop yield and biomass through aggressive agronomic practices. However, these methods lead to soil degradation, compromising the essential environment for nutrient synthesis. This review examines how the intersection of agricultural practices, such as tillage, synthetic fertilization, and land use, with environmental stressors (climate change and erosion) diminishes soil quality. The deterioration of soil quality directly impacts the nutritional profile of crops, reducing levels of essential micronutrients and bioactive compounds. Analysis indicates that products grown using organic farming techniques contain higher levels of bioactive compounds (e.g., antioxidants), whereas conventionally grown products contain lower levels. Additionally, regenerative farming is entering the mainstream as an alternative to conventional farming, helping restore and maintain soil health while producing nutrient-rich crops. Given the Functional Food Center’s (FFC) definition of functional foods, it is vital to re-evaluate current crops through modern clinical trials. Systematic re-evaluation of crops is necessary to verify that these products provide benefits beyond basic nutrition, including the prevention of chronic diseases, and to confirm their status within the FFC’s established framework.
Novelty of the Study: This review examines how drivers of soil degradation and agricultural practices (i.e., conventional, organic, and regenerative systems) impact soil quality and health. While previous literature has extensively documented the decline in soil quality and its effects on a crop’s nutritional profile, this review addresses a conceptual gap by connecting agricultural outcomes directly to the Functional Food Center’s (FFC) 17-step framework for functional food verification. Unlike traditional soil-health reviews that focus on agronomic yield or generalized comparisons between agricultural systems, this review introduces the integration of the FFC’s framework for re-evaluating crops based on their bioactive potential.
Keywords: Soil quality, Nutrient depletion, Bioactive compounds, Organic farming, Conventional farming, Regenerative Farming, Conventional functional foods
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