Summary Soil has a considerable effect on human health, whether those effects are positive or negative, direct or indirect. Soil is an important source of nutrients in our food supply and medicines such as antibiotics. However, nutrient imbalances and the presence of human pathogens in the soil biological community can cause negative effects on health. There are also many locations where various elements or chemical compounds are found in soil at toxic levels because of either natural conditions or anthropogenic activities. The soils of urban environments have received increased attention in the last few years, and they too pose a number of human health questions and challenges. Concepts such as soil security may provide a framework within which issues on soil and human health can be investigated using interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches. It will take the contributions of experts in several different scientific, medical and social science fields to address fully soil and human health issues. Although much progress was made in understanding links between soil and human health over the last century, there is still much that we do not know about the complex interactions between them. Therefore, there is still a considerable need for research in this important area. Highlights Soil is important to human health. Effects can be positive or negative, direct or indirect. Advances have been made in recent years. Inter‐ and trans‐disciplinary research is needed.

Epidemiological studies have shown a relationship between diets rich in tomato and/or lycopene and a reduction in cancer rates. Several studies reported reductions in proliferation of certain cell lines when treated with lycopene. This study used seven human cell lines to measure the effect of lycopene on cell proliferation across normal human plasma concentrations of lycopene. Seven cell types, cancerous and noncancerous, were treated with lycopene from 0.0001 to 10 μM for 24, 48, and 72 hours and counted electronically. Controls and experimental samples were compared using the MannWhitney U-test at a 95% confidence level. All cells grew normally and there was no significant difference between any of the controls. The Hep-G2, liver adenocarcinoma cell line, showed a reduction at the high doses after 24 hours and the IMR-90, noncancerous lung cell line, showed a reduction at the highest dose after 72 hours when compared to the solvent control. The A431, skin carcinoma, DU-145, prostate carcinoma, HS-68, noncancerous skin, A549, lung carcinoma, and HS-578T, breast carcinoma, all showed no reduction in proliferation. This indicated that lycopene at the physiological range does not significantly affect cell proliferation in an in vitro model and requires more careful investigations.

Despite the definite links between soil and human health, it is likely that most people do not think about soil when considering human health. There is a disconnect between most people in our modern society and soil, and when people notice soil it is often in a negative context. People care for things that matter to them, and creating a more positive public image of soil could improve human health by leading to better treatment and understanding of the soil resource. There are a number of concepts that may be able to connect people to the soil, including terroir, soil health and soil security. While terroir originally established a connection between those who appreciate wine and the soils that produce those wines, the concept has been expanded to many additional products. It might be possible to provide a terroir link to human health benefits if they can be shown to be characteristic of a given soil environment. The concept of soil health has caught on with many farmers, policymakers, scientists and the general public, thus providing another possible approach to improve peoples’ connection with soil. Soil security is a recent concept that has been advanced as a way to take advantage of the connection that concepts such as energy, food and water security have made with policymakers. Therefore, we advocate a concerted effort to investigate terroir, soil health and soil security as concepts to improve overall human health. Soil health and soil security might have the most promise, and some social marketing campaigns that include soil health are ongoing. Highlights Soil is important to human health. A disconnect exists between the urban population and soil. Education about soil can rebuild these connections. Concepts such as terroir, soil health or soil security might help make connections.

No abstract

No abstract