The Most Nutritious Plant In The World, According To CDC — Why Don’t You Know About It? скачать в хорошем качестве

The Most Nutritious Plant In The World, According To CDC — Why Don’t You Know About It?

In 2014, the Centers for Disease Control ranked forty-seven fruits and vegetables by nutrient density. One plant scored a perfect one hundred out of one hundred—doubling kale's score. Ancient Greeks cultivated it, medieval monks ate it during Lent, Victorian London sold it on street corners for a penny. Then, within a single generation, it vanished from American diets—not because it became less nutritious, but because the Industrial Revolution poisoned the water it grew in, and the memory of disease made people want to forget. 🔬 THE SCIENCE: Watercress scored one hundred out of one hundred in the 2014 CDC classification system for powerhouse fruits and vegetables—foods providing at least ten percent of the daily value of seventeen nutrients essential for reducing chronic disease risk. Kale scored forty-nine. Spinach scored eighty-six. Collard greens sixty-two. Romaine lettuce sixty-three. Per hundred grams, watercress contains more vitamin K than kale or spinach, more calcium per calorie than milk, more iron than spinach, more vitamin C than oranges, and more vitamin A than carrots. It is dense with folate, iodine, manganese, and alpha-linolenic acid omega-3 fatty acids. The plant contains glucosinolates, which break down into isothiocyanates when chewed, producing its peppery flavor. Phenethyl isothiocyanate—PEITC—has been studied in laboratory and animal research for cellular activity, though mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Agriculturally, watercress is perennial, producing year-round in climates where water does not freeze. It can be harvested in three weeks under optimal conditions and regrows continuously after cutting. 🕰️ THE HISTORY: Watercress has been consumed for at least two thousand years. Pliny the Elder documented it in Roman writings. Dioscorides, the Greek physician whose texts shaped European medicine for fifteen centuries, recorded its use. Romans ate it as salad, believed it sharpened the mind, and soldiers carried it on campaigns. Medieval monasteries cultivated it in controlled water gardens with channels and sluices, consuming it during Lent when fresh greens were scarce. By the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, watercress became embedded in English working-class diets. London street vendors sold bunches for a penny. It was called "poor man's bread." Industrial Revolution contamination poisoned rivers with factory waste, sewage, and agricultural runoff. The plant bioaccumulated pollutants and pathogens. Typhoid and cholera outbreaks were traced to contaminated watercress. By the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, public health authorities issued warnings. Cultural association shifted from sustenance to danger. Mid-twentieth century consumption collapsed in the United States. 💰 THE SYSTEM: Industrial agriculture reorganized around crops compatible with mechanization and long-distance shipping. Iceberg lettuce was bred for durability, neutral flavor, and shelf stability. It could be harvested, packed in ice, and shipped transcontinentally. Watercress required clean water, which became scarce near urban centers during industrialization. It wilted within hours unless kept cool and moist, preventing long-distance transport. Commercial cultivation required expensive water quality maintenance, certification, testing, and liability management—costs absent from soil-grown lettuce production. Consumer trust was broken by disease associations. The 1972 Clean Water Act began restoring American waterways, but cultural rejection persisted. 📚 SOURCES: Centers for Disease Control. (2014). Powerhouse fruits and vegetables nutrient density classification.Pliny the Elder. (1st century CE). Natural History.Dioscorides. (1st century CE). Botanical and medical texts.Clean Water Act. (1972). United States federal water quality legislation. 🎵 MUSIC: ⚫ Nature by MaxKoMusic: maxkomusic.com Download: bit.ly/download-nature ⚫ #Watercress#ForgottenFoods#CDCStudy#NutrientDensity#FoodHistory#IndustrialRevolution#AncientFoods#Superfoods#LostKnowledge#CleanWater