FlexiLingo
Are fruit and vegetables less nutritious than they used to be? And is declining soil quality to blame? Loyal listener Sarah got in touch to ask us to investigate an interesting quote from Dr Karan Rajan in a BBC news story. “We know our soil is not as nutrient dense as it was decades ago,” he said. “So a carrot in the 1950s will be far more nutrient-rich than a 2026 carrot.” Is this really true? wondered Sarah. We wondered the same, so we spoke to some experts on fruit and veg nutrition to find out. CONTRIBUTORS Robin Marles, a...
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B2 · Upper-intermediate
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- 143 words a minute: a natural pace.
- 56 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.
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1950s will be far more nutrient rich than a 2026 carrot.
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Is this episode right for you?
B2 · Upper-intermediate
Comfortable if you already follow TV news
- 84% of the words are B1 or easier.
- 143 words a minute: a natural pace.
- 56 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.
Transcript
The opening of the episode. The whole transcript is in the player.
harder words (B2+)
Hello and thanks for downloading the More or Less podcast, with a programme that looks at the numbers in the news and in life, and in carrot quality. I'm Tim Harford. For anyone struggling to get their kids to eat their vegetables, today's programme might not be welcome listening. It starts, as is often the case, with an email from a loyal
listener. In this case, Sarah, who read an interesting quote from Dr. Karen Rajan in a BBC News story. Here it is. We know our soil is not as nutrient dense as it was decades ago, so a carrot in the 1950s will be far more nutrient rich than a 2026 carrot.
Is this really true? Wandered Sarah? We wandered the same. Are fruit and veg less nutritious than they used to be, and is it true that we know soil is far less nutrient rich than it used to be? Our starting point in the search for the truth was some research from about a decade ago.
That was the opening. The rest of the episode (8 min) is in the player: every word clickable, with translation, saved words and flashcards.
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