Understand how good soil can be an ally for your intestine and mental health – 09/30/2024 – Balance

Often overlooked, soil is one of the largest living ecosystems on our planet and the foundation of our lives. It provides 95% of our food, supports global biodiversity and helps balance the climate by storing atmospheric carbon.

It is also a huge source of raw materials, from iron ore and bauxite (the rock from which aluminum is made) to the natural gas used to power our society.

A new report from Save Soil —a campaign by the global movement Conscious Planet—describes the surprising ways in which healthy soil is directly linked to our physical and mental health.

Literally touching the earth, including walking barefoot on it or getting your hands dirty, can improve your gut health. We carry many of the same bacteria as soil in our intestines and on our skin. Therefore, the human body is covered inside and out with microbes found in the earth.

Studies show that the amount of physical contact with the natural ground affects the diversity and therefore the health of your gut microbiota. The greatest diversity of intestinal bacteria ever recorded was found in an isolated population of hunter-gatherers in the Amazon rainforest, who are in almost constant contact, barefoot, with quality land.

Our gut health is supported by a balanced, nutritious diet — this is where the health of the earth perhaps has the most direct impact on our daily well-being. To function well, our bodies need vitamins and nutrients that we ingest through the diet of plants and animals—which grow and feed in healthy, living soils, rich in organic matter, and result in more nutritious foods for humans.

Degraded soils, nutritional deficiencies

Many nutritional deficiencies in our foods result from growing crops on degraded land. Even the nutrients in the most common ingredients are at risk. One study found that the protein content in wheat decreased by 23% between 1955 and 2016. As Save Soil’s new report outlines, the degradation of our lands means weaker and more dysfunctional human health.

What exactly is land degradation? The UN defines it as “the physical, chemical and biological decline in quality”, which “can generate the loss of organic matter”. This is often caused by unsustainable farming practices, such as overplowing. Organic matter, in this case, is the “living” part of the soil — the parts rich in plant or animal residues that are being decomposed by microbes and transformed into nutrients that can be recycled by other organisms.

Save Soil argues that it is necessary to have at least 3 to 6% organic matter (based on regional conditions) in agricultural soil to ensure it is providing nutritious produce. The sad reality is that most of the world is far from this minimum. Currently, up to 40% of the world’s land is degraded. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations warns that 90% of the planet’s surface layer could be at risk by 2050.

The nutritional deficiencies caused by this widespread destruction have an impact on our mental health. Drops in essential micronutrients such as vitamins B1, B6 and B9, often caused by poor soil health, are linked to mental health disorders such as depression. Likewise, iron and zinc deficiencies lead to poor brain function. On the other hand, healthier gut microbiomes have been linked to greater production of “happy hormones” such as serotonin and dopamine.

The good news is that increasing soil organic matter can be achieved if farmers are supported to transition from intensive methods and monocultures to more regenerative agricultural practices such as cover cropping (planting unharvested crops to enrich health soil) and crop rotation.

The upcoming UN climate summit in November will be an opportunity for governments to introduce policy changes that offer financial incentives to help farmers through this transition.

Get your hands dirty whenever you can, walk barefoot through the park, and buy food and drinks produced by regenerative farmers to support sustainable agriculture. If this is good for the earth beneath our feet, it will also be good for your body and mind.

This article was published on The Conversation and reprinted here under a Creative Commons license. Click here to read the original version.