The heirloom tomatoes in your garden may not just be tastier than commercially grown vegetables, but healthier too, according to a study from the American College of Nutrition.

The study looked for 13 nutrients in 43 crops grown from 1950 to 1999 and discovered that the vegetables enjoyed by our grandparents were significantly more nutritious than the veggies found on supermarket shelves today.

After rigorous statistical analysis, the researchers found that, on average, all three minerals evaluated have declined; two of five vitamins have declined; and protein content has dropped by 6 percent.

The decline is attributed to the relentless pursuit of crop strains that produce high yields, but few nutrients. One solution, short of agribusiness embracing lower-yielding crop strains or starting a vegetable garden, is to patronize farm stands and farmer’s markets where you can buy from smaller, multi-crop farmers that value quality above quantity.

Changes in USDA Food Composition Data for 43 Garden Crops, 1950 to 1999 [Journal of the American College of Nutrition]

That tub of fruit yoghurt on the supermarket shelf has been advertised as healthy, fresh – and probably organic into the bargain.

But it also probably represents as much as 9000 kilometres of road and air transport to get it to the shelf. The yoghurt base, the fruit, the jar or tub, the lid, the label and even the bulk carton it came in have all come from widely scattered places. Germans consume 3 billion serves of processed yoghurt every year.

Modern industrial food production looks efficient: the products are always there, always fresh and always consistent. But underlying that seeming efficiency is a prodigal expenditure of energy, mostly as fossil fuels; often, the energy used to get the food to you outweighs the energy value of the food itself.

It takes 1000 kilojoules of energy to ship 170 kilojoules worth of out-of-season strawberries from Chile to the USA.

The answer, if you’re really serious about reducing your ecological footprint, is to unmodernise in the kitchen. Buy less processed food, cut down on out-of-season produce and scout around for a farmers’ market – they’re springing up everywhere and you’ll know the food has travelled tens rather than thousands of kilometres.

By doing that, you’ll also cut down on food additives, save money, rediscover the true pleasures of cooking and help farming folk to stay on the land.

The organic food movement’s adherents have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, but success has imperiled their ideals. It simply isn’t clear that organic food production can be replicated on a mass scale.

And it looks like big business is going to do it their way …

Just as mainstream consumers are growing hungry for untainted food that also nourishes their social conscience, it is getting harder and harder to find organic ingredients.

There simply aren’t enough organic cows in the US, never mind the organic grain to feed them, to go around. Nor are there sufficient organic strawberries, sugar, or apple pulp — some of the other ingredients that go into the world’s best-selling organic yogurt.

So what are we eating?

Would you drink a Quarter Pounder with Cheese?

That’s the question posed by the Center for Science in the Public Interest [CSPI], after figuring that the venti (20-oz) Starbucks Caffè Mocha you order is the equivalent of sipping that 500-calorie burger through a straw.

And a venti Starbucks Java Chip Frappuccino, with 650 calories and nearly a day’s saturated fat, is a McDonald’s coffee plus 11 creamers and 29 packets of sugar, according to the watchdogs at CSPI.

In the latest issue of Nutrition Action Healthletter, CSPI’s nutritionists tell you how to keep your coffee break from becoming a Big Mac break.

“Most people wouldn’t consider shoehorning in a Quarter Pounder with Cheese somewhere between breakfast and lunch, but it’s perfectly possible to get 500-plus calories in a drink from Starbucks,” said CSPI senior nutritionist Jayne Hurley.

“Fortunately, it’s a cinch to bring down the calories and saturated fat in many of these drinks by making a few simple changes.”