Many so-called health "experts" advise that depletion of minerals from the soil is a non-issue because:

"The mere presence of a crop demonstrates an ample supply of  minerals in the soil."

Here you have a magnificent assumption, suggesting you get the dozens of minerals you need from what you eat.

This assumption has been debunked by the testing of tissue and mineral ash.

Plants require magnesium, the center of the chlorophyll molecule, for growth. Without sufficient magnesium in the soil, a grower will not have a plant or fruit for harvest. But it does not follow  that if the plant grows, and you partake of it, that you will get an
efficacious dose of magnesium or any other mineral.

How can it be that tissue analyses done on melon plants taken from soils miles apart, where the seventh leaf back from the growing tip is removed and sent to the lab, do not reveal equality of magnesium content?

Or, that you can get totally different magnesium content from plants the same age, same size, 20 feet apart?

Clearly, all melon plants are not equal as to magnesium content,  and their fruit turns out to be a poor source of this mineral.

You can plant tomato seeds, but without sufficient magnesium in the soil you will have no harvest. Tissue analyses elicit variation just as in melon plants, but the fruit of the tomato plant might be a good source of magnesium, depending on the quantity of magnesium in the soil where the plant was grown.

We know this with certitude from the 50 year old Firman Bear Report from Rutgers University.

Tests done on 67 tomato samples from ten states, revealing a thirteen-fold variation in the magnesium content of the fruit, proved the mere existence of the plant provides no guarantee of an efficacious amount of magnesium in a particular tomato.

Clearly, all tomatoes are not equal.

We require cobalt, just like magnesium, for our metabolic enzyme systems. It is needed for the production of thyroid hormone and for myelin, the insulating material found around
nerves.

Back in time our grandparents received the benefit of cobalt in the tomatoes they ate, because cobalt was in the soil that produced those tomatoes.

While the availability of magnesium in the soil is required to produce tomato plants, cobalt has nothing to do with the production of edible biomass. And, as Firman Bear revealed,
the mere presence of a plant does not guarantee cobalt and other minerals reside in its leaves or fruit.

Firman Bear showed that growers produced cobalt-free tomatoes, cabbage, lettuce, and snap beans. Logically, this should come as no surprise, because for decades cobalt and
other minerals have been taken out of the soil and not replaced.

Does today's tomato from your favorite market or organic food stand guarantee you a dose of cobalt? No! How so?

Agribusiness has had no economic incentive to put cobalt back in the soil, and ditto for the organic stands at farmers' markets.

They do put a few minerals back, but the next time you are there, ask them for their parts per million cobalt content of their produce--or its selenium, chromium and strontium--and watch
that blank expression come over their face.

We do have a few studies showing organic produce has a slightly higher mineral content than conventionally grown produce, and vice versa, and bless the folks who do put minerals back in the soil; but it will take decades to reverse a century of neglect and abuse of our soils.

In the meantime, the depletion of dozens of minerals from the soil continues to wreak havoc with our metabolic enzyme systems--gifting us with the chronic diseases of our time.

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Bill Quesnell, health educator and author of 'Minerals: The Essential Link to Health,' helps people recover energy and vitality. Subscribe to No Charge monthly ezine, "Where Health
Comes From" at info@mineralsbuildhealth.com  Phone: 619/222-2268 Toll free orders: 866/552-0622 Write Bill at 5039 Voltaire St. #3 San Diego, CA 92107 For critical
reviews and a list of 15 harmful health myths visit http://www.mineralsbuildhealth.com