How Do Vegetables Change When Grown Hydroponically? An Easy-to-Understand Explanation of the Risks

Hello everyone! I’m Shohei.

Some people may be concerned about the impact on vegetables from hydroponics, which has an artificial image.

It’s about food, after all.
I’m sure some of you are thinking, “I won’t eat it unless I’m convinced!”

So,
Are there any differences between vegetables grown in soil and hydroponically grown vegetables?
I will explain the points of concern in an easy-to-understand manner.

First, from the difference in nutritional value of vegetables

First, I will explain the difference in nutritional value of vegetables.

However, this varies from case to case.
Yes. I’m saying something ambiguous right away lol.

But to put it bluntly about the difference in nutritional value,
It feels more like “it depends on how it’s grown” rather than soil vs. hydroponics.

By the way, the fertilizer ingredients used are the same for both soil and hydroponics.
This is because the ingredients necessary for vegetables to grow are fixed.

It’s about how you give it to the vegetables.
In other words, the difference is whether you mix the fertilizer into the soil or dissolve it in water.

But the way vegetables are grown differs depending on the environment and the producer.

Whether to make them grow quickly by having them absorb fertilizer like crazy,
Or whether to grow them slowly over time while accumulating nutrients.

In fact, this can be controlled to some extent by adjusting the cultivation method.
Cultivation methods include adjusting temperature, humidity, light intensity, and the amount of fertilizer.

Therefore, it is difficult to generalize about the impact on nutritional value depending on whether it is soil or hydroponics.

In fact, there have been several studies comparing nutritional value, but the results are inconsistent.

However, one thing I can say is that,
If you are looking for profit, you will sacrifice nutrients and grow them quickly.

And, generally speaking, hydroponics, which is more industrialized, tends to grow faster.

But conversely, hydroponics can also be used to control the environment and dramatically increase nutritional value.

Does the risk change? In the first place, what is harmful to eat?

Next is, “Does the risk change with hydroponics?”

What are the things that are harmful to eat in the first place?
Let’s start by confirming this point.

Roughly speaking, the factors that can be harmful to eat are as follows.

Of these, “toxins that vegetables naturally have” refers to plants that originally have toxins.
These are things like poisonous mushrooms, but I will omit them because they deviate from the main topic of this article.

Therefore, I will focus on those due to “cultivation methods and environment,”
If those factors exist in the environment, how will they contaminate the vegetables?

There are three possible routes.

Of these, “①Surface contamination” and “③Contamination after harvesting”
are not related to “hydroponics,” which is the main topic of this article.

Therefore, I will delve into the case of “②Contamination from the roots,” which is a unique environment of hydroponics.

Contamination from the roots is possible, but there is no need to worry so much

Now let’s look at contamination from the roots.

When considering contamination from the roots, there are three possible factors that may be harmful.
I think it’s about chemical substances, microorganisms, and foreign substances.

By the way, chemical substances are heavy metals, pesticides, etc.

Here’s the point,
Don’t you have the image that if harmful substances are dissolved in water, the plants will absorb them like crazy?

That’s wrong.

In reality, only small particles enter from the roots of plants.
In particular, large objects such as foreign substances are never absorbed, so there is no danger.

On the other hand, microorganisms slightly invade from the roots.
However, microorganisms that are harmful to humans proliferate in plants and cause food poisoning.
That’s not going to happen.

Plants themselves also have a defense function to prevent bacteria.

In the first place, the hydroponic environment is much cleaner and has fewer microorganisms than soil.
Bacteria that are harmful to humans (such as E. coli) are almost non-existent.

Therefore, there is no need to worry about microorganisms and foreign substances. What about chemical substances?
Next, let’s go.

What about the effects of heavy metals and chemical substances?

Plants can absorb and accumulate harmful heavy metals and chemical substances from their roots.
However, it is not particularly easy to absorb them just because it is hydroponics.

In other words, the point is, “Is the water in hydroponics more polluted than soil?”

The answer is, “On the contrary, hydroponics is less polluted.”

This is because only fertilizer is dissolved in hydroponic water, and it is separated from the external environment.
In other words, there is a lower possibility that unnecessary substances are included than in soil.

Pesticides are basically not used because there is no need to use them, and the water is replaced regularly.

Therefore, there is no particular risk regarding heavy metals and chemical substances.

Well, I don’t know if you use well water in a heavily polluted area.
That’s another problem in the first place.

In the first place, don’t grow vegetables in such a place.

Now, let’s get back to the story and move on to the last topic. What about nitrate nitrogen?

In hydroponics, the amount of nitrate nitrogen in vegetables increases, but…

Nitrate nitrogen is a component commonly used as a vegetable fertilizer.

Let me explain.

First of all, vegetables grown hydroponically tend to accumulate nitrate nitrogen.
This is due to the way hydroponic fertilizer is used.

This is a fact, and it often happens.

On the other hand, there is a story that excessive nitrate nitrogen is harmful to the human body.
Some countries have established standards for nitrate nitrogen, but Japan does not.

A long time ago, there was a case where ingesting a large amount of nitrate nitrogen had a negative impact on babies.

However, don’t jump to conclusions, the story that nitrate nitrogen is harmful is itself dubious, Recently, there are many opinions that “it may not have any effect…?”

Some suspect it has carcinogenic properties, but it does not seem to be confirmed.
WHO states that nitrate nitrogen has no health effects on adults.

At least it doesn’t seem to have any effect on adults, so I eat vegetables like a herbivore.

Because of my job, I was eating hydroponic lettuce to death, but I’m very healthy lol.

Conclusion: Hydroponic vegetables are highly safe

I’ve explained it for a long time, but here’s the conclusion.