Studies of the effects of atmospheric CO2 enrichment on the quality of plant productivity have historically lagged far behind studies designed to assess the effects of elevated CO2 on the quantity of plant production. The early work of Barbale (1970) and Madsen (1971, 1975) suggested that increasing the air's CO2 content produced a modest increase in ascorbate or vitamin C concentrations in tomato fruit, while Kimball and Mitchell (1981) found that it stimulated the production of vitamin A in tomatoes. A few years later, Tajiri (1985) observed that a mere one-hour-per-day doubling of the atmospheric CO2 concentration actually doubled the vitamin C contents of bean sprouts over a period of only seven days. Then, Stuhlfauth et al. (1987) found that a near-tripling of the air's CO2 content increased the dry weight production of the woolly foxglove plant (which produces the cardiac glycoside digoxin used in the treatment of cardiac insufficiency) by 63% under dry conditions and by 83% when well-watered, and that the concentration of digoxin within the plant dry mass was enhanced by 11% under well-watered conditions and by 14% under conditions of water stress, after which Stuhlfauth and Fock (1990) obtained similar results in a field study, with a near-tripling of the air's CO2 content leading to a 75% increase in plant dry weight production per unit land area and a 15% increase in digoxin per unit dry weight of plant material, which resulted in an actual doubling of total digoxin yield per hectare of cultivated land.

It was not until the turn of the century, however, that such work truly came into its own, when Idso et al. (2000) grew spider lily plants out-of-doors at Phoenix, Arizona in clear-plastic-wall open-top enclosures that had their atmospheric CO2 concentrations maintained at either 400 or 700 ppm for two consecutive two-year growth cycles. This work revealed that the 75% increase in the air's CO2 concentration increased aboveground plant biomass by 48% and belowground (bulb) biomass by 56%. In addition, the extra CO2 increased the concentrations of five bulb constituents possessing anticancer and antiviral properties. Mean percentage increases in these concentrations were, in the words of the researchers, "6% for a two-constituent (1:1) mixture of 7-deoxynarciclasine and 7-deoxy-trans-dihydronarciclasine, 8% for pancratistatin, 8% for trans-dihydronarciclasine, and 28% for narciclasine, for a mean active-ingredient percentage concentration increase of 12%." And combined with the 56% increase in bulb biomass, these percentage concentration increases resulted in a mean active-ingredient increase of 75% for the 75% increase in the air's CO2 concentration.

Why was this study so important? It was important because the substances studied have been demonstrated to be effective in fighting a number of devastating human maladies, including leukemia, ovary sarcoma, melanoma, and brain, colon, lung and renal cancers, as well as Japanese encephalitis and yellow, dengue, Punta Tora and Rift Valley fevers. And the finding that atmospheric CO2 enrichment increases both the concentrations and absolute amounts of these substances in the bulbs of the common spider lily plant bodes well for the future production of still other botanical-based medicines in other plants. In addition, it points to the tantalizing possibility that there may be a number of health-promoting substances in many of the foods we eat that may also have their concentrations enhanced by the ongoing rise in the air's CO2 concentration. In fact, the astonishing observation of ever-lengthening human life-span over the past half-century (see our Journal Review: Why Are We Living Longer?) suggests that mankind may already be benefiting from this phenomenon in a major way.

Many other such studies followed in quick succession. One close to our hearts was that of Idso et al. (2002), who had grown well-watered and fertilized sour orange trees out-of-doors at Phoenix, Arizona in clear-plastic-wall open-top enclosures maintained at atmospheric CO2 concentrations of either 400 or 700 ppm since November of 1987, and who had evaluated the effects of the extra CO2 on the vitamin C concentrations of fully-ripened fruit harvested over the eight-year period 1992-1999. Their work revealed that in years when the production of fruit was approximately doubled by the extra CO2, the fruit produced in the two CO2 treatments were of approximately the same size; and the vitamin C concentration of the juice of the CO2-enriched oranges was enhanced by approximately 7% above that of the juice of the ambient-treatment oranges. In years when fruit numbers were more than doubled, however, the CO2-enriched fruit were slightly smaller than the fruit produced in normal air; and the vitamin C concentration of the juice of the CO2-enriched fruit rose even higher, to as much as 15% above that of the ambient-treatment fruit. On the other hand, in years when fruit numbers were less than doubled, the CO2-enriched fruit were slightly larger than the ambient-treatment fruit; and the enhancement of the vitamin C concentration of the juice of the CO2-enriched fruit was somewhat less than the base value of 7% typical of equal-size fruit.

With respect to the likely long-term equilibrium response of the trees, Idso et al. write that in five of the last six years of the study, "the 75% increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration has increased : (1) the number of fruit produced by the trees by 74 ± 9%, (2) the fresh weight of the fruit by 4 ± 2%, and (3) the vitamin C concentration of the juice of the fruit by 5 ± 1%." On the basis of this study, therefore, in the words of the eight researchers, "there is reason to believe that an atmospheric CO2 enrichment of the magnitude expected over the current century may induce a large and sustained increase in the number of fruit produced by orange trees, a small increase in the size of the fruit, and a modest increase in the vitamin C concentration of the juice of the fruit, all of which effects bode well for this key agricultural product that plays a vital role in maintaining good health in human populations around the globe."

Further support for this conclusion and its great significance is provided by Idso and Idso (2001), who note that "these findings take on great significance when it is realized that scurvy - which is brought on by low intake of vitamin C - may be resurgent in industrial countries, especially among children (Ramar et al., 1993; Gomez-Carrasco et al., 1994), and that subclinical scurvy symptoms are increasing among adults (Dickinson et al., 1994)." In addition, they report that "Hampl et al. (1999) have found that 12 to 20% of 12-18-year-old school children in the United States 'drastically under-consume' foods that supply vitamin C; while Johnston et al. (1998) have determined that 12 to 16% of U.S. college students have marginal plasma concentrations of vitamin C." Hence, as they continue, "since vitamin C intake correlates strongly with the consumption of citrus juice (Dennison et al., 1998), and since the only high-vitamin-C juice consumed in any quantity by children is orange juice (Hampl et al., 1999), the modest role played by the ongoing rise in the air's CO2 content in increasing the vitamin C concentration of orange juice could ultimately prove to be of considerable significance for public health in the United States and elsewhere."

Another important study was that of Wang et al. (2003), who grew strawberry plants in six clear-acrylic open-top chambers - two of which were maintained at the ambient atmospheric CO2 concentration, two of which were maintained at ambient + 300 ppm CO2, and two of which were maintained at ambient + 600 ppm CO2 - for a period of 28 months (from early spring of 1998 through June 2000), harvesting their fruit at the commercially ripe stage in both 1999 and 2000 and analyzing them for a number of antioxidant properties and flavonol contents.

Before reporting what they found, Wang et al. provided some background by noting that strawberries are good sources of natural antioxidants, reporting that "in addition to the usual nutrients, such as vitamins and minerals, strawberries are also rich in anthocyanins, flavonoids, and phenolic acids," and that "strawberries have shown a remarkably high scavenging activity toward chemically generated radicals, thus making them effective in inhibiting oxidation of human low-density lipoproteins (Heinonen et al., 1998)." In this regard, they note that previous studies (Wang and Jiao, 2000; Wang and Lin, 2000) "have shown that strawberries have high oxygen radical absorbance activity against peroxyl radicals, superoxide radicals, hydrogen peroxide, hydroxyl radicals, and singlet oxygen." In their experiment, therefore, they were seeking to see if atmospheric CO2 enrichment could make a good thing even better.

So what did the researchers find? They determined, first of all, that strawberries had higher concentrations of ascorbic acid (AsA) and glutathione (GSH) "when grown under enriched CO2 environments." In going from ambient to +300 ppm and +600 ppm CO2, for example, AsA concentrations increased by 10 and 13%, respectively, while GSH concentrations increased by 3 and 171%, respectively. They also learned that "an enriched CO2 environment resulted in an increase in phenolic acid, flavonol, and anthocyanin contents of fruit." For nine different flavonoids, for example, there was a mean concentration increase of 55 ± 23% in going from the ambient atmospheric CO2 concentration to +300 ppm CO2, and a mean concentration increase of 112 ± 35% in going from ambient to +600 ppm CO2. In addition, they report that the "high flavonol content was associated with high antioxidant activity." As for the significance of these findings, Wang et al. note that "anthocyanins have been reported to help reduce damage caused by free radical activity, such as low-density lipoprotein oxidation, platelet aggregation, and endothelium-dependent vasodilation of arteries (Heinonen et al., 1998; Rice-Evans and Miller, 1996)."

In summarizing their findings, Wang et al. say that "strawberry fruit contain flavonoids with potent antioxidant properties, and under CO2 enrichment conditions, increased the[ir] AsA, GSH, phenolic acid, flavonol, and anthocyanin concentrations," further noting that "plants grown under CO2 enrichment conditions also had higher oxygen radical absorbance activity against [many types of oxygen] radicals in the fruit." Hence, they determined that atmospheric CO2 enrichment truly did make a good thing even better.

Zobayed and Saxena (2004) worked with St. Johns' wort, a perennial herb native to Europe and West Asia that has been used as a medicinal plant for the treatment of mild to moderate depression, inflammation and wound healing (Brolis et al., 1998; Stevinson and Ernst, 1999), and which has been reported to be a potential source for anticancer, antimicrobial and antiviral medicines (Schempp et al., 2002; Pasqua et al., 2003). More specifically, they grew shoots of the plant for 42 days under well watered and fertilized conditions in a greenhouse, where the air's CO2 concentration averaged 360 ppm during the photoperiod, and in computer-controlled environment chambers maintained at a mean photoperiod CO2 concentration of 1000 ppm, with all other environmental conditions being comparable between the two treatments.

On the final day of the study, the researchers determined that the net photosynthetic rates of the plants in the CO2-enriched chambers were 124% greater than those of the plants growing in ambient air, and that their dry weights were 107% greater. In addition, the extra 640 ppm of CO2 in the high-CO2 treatment increased plant concentrations of hypericin and pseudohypericin (two of the major health-promoting substances in the plants) by just over 100%. Consequently, the 180% increase in the air's CO2 content more than doubled the dry mass produced by the well-watered and fertilized St. John's wort plants, while it also more than doubled the concentrations of hypericin and pseudohypericen found in their tissues, which means that the CO2 increase more than quadrupled the total production of these two health-promoting substances.

Mosaleeyanon et al. (2005) also studied St. John's wort, growing well watered and fertilized seedlings for 45 days in controlled environment chambers at low, medium and high light intensities (100, 300 and 600 µmol m^-2 s^-1, respectively) at atmospheric CO2 concentrations of 500, 1000 and 1500 ppm. On day 43, they measured net photosynthetic rates in all treatment combinations at plant growth conditions; and on day 45 the plants were harvested, and hypericin, pseudohypericin and hyperforin (another important health-promoting substance) were extracted from their leaves and quantified. Under all three light intensities employed in the study, the 1000-ppm increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration experienced in going from 500 to 1500 ppm produced total plant biomass increases of approximately 32%. Over this same CO2 range, hypericin concentrations rose by 78, 57 and 53%, respectively, under the low, medium and high light intensities, while corresponding increases in pseudohypericin were 70, 57 and 67%, and those in hyperforin were 102, 23 and 3%. Last of all, compared to results obtained from plants growing out-of-doors in air of 380 ppm CO2 and at light intensities on the order of 1770 µmol m^-2 s^-1, Mosaleeyanon et al. report that total plant biomass was fully 30 times greater in the high-light, high-CO2 treatment, while concentrations of hypericin and pseudohypericin were 30 and 41 times greater, respectively, in the high-light, high-CO2 treatment. Consequently, the researchers demonstrated that growing St. John's wort plants in CO2-enriched air in a controlled environment can enormously enhance the production of both plant biomass and total hypericin and pseudohypericin contents.

Ziska et al. (2005) grew well watered and fertilized tobacco and jimson weed plants from seed in controlled environment chambers maintained at atmospheric CO2 concentrations of either 294 ppm (reduced), 378 ppm (ambient) or 690 ppm (elevated) and mean air temperatures of either 22.1 or 27.1°C for 50 and 47 days after planting for tobacco and jimson weed, respectively, while sampling the plants at weekly intervals beginning at 28 and 16 days after planting for tobacco and jimson weed, respectively, to determine the effects of these treatments on the concentrations of three plant alkaloids possessing important pharmacological properties: nicotine, in the case of tobacco, and atropine and scopolamine, in the case of jimson weed. In following these protocols, they found that at the time of final harvesting, the elevated CO2 had increased the aboveground biomass production of tobacco by approximately 89% at 22.1°C and 53% at 27.1°C, and to have increased that of jimson weed by approximately 23% and 14% at the same respective temperatures. It was also found to have reduced the concentration of nicotine in tobacco, to have increased the concentration of scopolamine in jimson weed, but to have had no significant effect on the concentration of atropine in jimson weed. These changes (reduced nicotine in tobacco and increased scopolamine in jimson weed) would likely be characterized as positive; for the researchers report that nicotine is acknowledged to have significant negative impacts on human health, and that scopolamine is used as a sedative and as "an antispasmodic in certain disorders characterized by restlessness and agitation, (e.g., delirium tremens, psychosis, mania and Parkinsonism)."

With respect to the significance of their findings, Ziska et al. say "it can be argued that synthetic production of these secondary compounds alleviates any concern regarding environmental impacts on their production from botanical sources; however, developing countries (i.e., ~75% of the world population) continue to rely on ethno-botanical remedies as their primary medicine (e.g. use of alkaloids from jimson weed as treatment for asthma among native Americans and in India)," also noting that "for both developed and developing countries, there are a number of economically important pharmaceuticals derived solely from plants whose economic value is considerable (Raskin et al., 2002)."

Another plant with a long history of medicinal use is the ginseng plant. Well known for its anti-inflammatory, diuretic and sedative properties, and acknowledged to be an effective healing agent (Gillis, 1997; Ali et al., 2005), ginseng is widely cultivated in China, South Korea and Japan, where it has been used for medicinal purposes since Greek and Roman times. Normally, four to six years are required for ginseng roots to accumulate the amounts of the various phenolic compounds that are needed to produce their health-promoting effects. Consequently, in an important step in the quest to develop an efficient culture system for the commercial production of ginseng root, Ali et al. (2005) investigated the consequences of growing ginseng roots in suspension culture in bioreactors maintained in equilibrium with air enriched to CO2 concentrations of 10,000 ppm, 25,000 ppm and 50,000 ppm for periods of up to 45 days.

Of most immediate concern in such an experiment would be the effects of the ultra-high CO2 concentrations on root growth. Would they be toxic and lead to biomass reductions or even root death? The answer was a resounding no. After 45 days of growth at 10,000 ppm CO2, root dry weight was increased by fully 37% relative to the dry weight of roots produced in bioreactors in equilibrium with ambient air, while root dry mass was increased by a lesser 27% after 45 days at 25,000 ppm CO2 and by a still smaller 9% after 45 days at 50,000 ppm CO2. Consequently, although the optimum CO2 concentration for ginseng root growth likely resides somewhere below 10,000 ppm, the concentration at which root growth is reduced below that characteristic of ambient air resides somewhere significantly above 50,000 ppm, for even at that extremely high CO2 concentration, root growth was still greater than it was in ambient air.

Almost everything else measured by Ali et al. was even more dramatically enhanced by the ultra-high CO2 concentrations they employed in their experiment. After 45 days of treatment, total root phenolic concentrations were 58% higher at 10,000 ppm CO2 than at ambient CO2, 153% higher at 25,000 ppm CO2 and 105% higher at 50,000 ppm CO2, as best we can determine from the bar graphs of their results. Likewise, total root flavonoid concentrations were enhanced by 228%, 383% and 232%, respectively, at the same ultra-high CO2 concentrations, while total protein contents rose by 14%, 22% and 30%, non-protein thiol contents by 12%, 43% and 62%, and cysteine contents by 27%, 65% and 100% under the identical respective set of conditions. What is more, there were equally large CO2-induced increases in the activities of a large number of phenol biosynthetic enzymes.

What are the implications of these results? Ali et al. write that "the consumption of foodstuffs containing antioxidant phytonutrients such as flavonoids, polyphenolics, ascorbate, cysteine and non-protein thiol is advantageous for human health," citing Cervato et al. (2000) and Noctor and Foyer (1998). Hence, they conclude that their technique for the culture of ginseng roots in CO2-enriched bioreactors could be used for the large-scale production of an important health-promoting product that could be provided to the public in much greater quantities than is currently possible.

We further note that as the air's CO2 content continues to climb, ginseng and many other medicinal plants will likely see the concentrations of their health-promoting substances naturally increased, leading to better human health the world over. This phenomenon, in fact, has likely already played a role (the magnitude of which is yet to be determined) in the huge lengthening of human life span that has occurred since the start of the Industrial Revolution, during which time the air's CO2 concentration has risen from something on the order of 280 ppm to a value that is currently close to 380 ppm.

Another plant that serves as both an herbal ingredient and a food delicacy in China, Japan and Korea is the brown seaweed Hizikia fusiforme, which has recently been studied by Zou (2005), who collected specimens of it from intertidal rocks along the coast of Nanao Island, Shantou, China, and maintained them in glass aquariums in filtered natural seawater enriched with 60 µM NaNO3 and 6.0 µM NaH2PO4, where the plants were continuously aerated with either ambient air of 360 ppm CO2 or CO2-enriched air of 700 ppm CO2. Under these conditions, Zou measured the seaweed's relative growth and nitrogen assimilation rates, as well as its nitrate reductase activity. This work revealed that the slightly less than a doubling of the air's CO2 concentration increased the seaweed's mean relative growth rate by about 50%, its mean rate of nitrate uptake during the study's 12-hour light periods by some 200%, and its nitrate reductase activity by approximately 20% over a wide range of substrate nitrate concentrations.

In discussing the implications of these findings, Zou notes that "the extract of H. fusiforme has an immunomodulating activity on humans and this ability might be used for clinical application to treat several diseases such as tumors (Suetsuna, 1998; Shan et al., 1999)." He also reports that the alga is "becoming one of the most important species for seaweed mariculture in China, owing to its high commercial value and increasing market demand." As a result, the ongoing rise in the air's CO2 content bodes well for both of these applications. In addition, Zou says "the intensive cultivation of H. fusiforme would remove nutrients more efficiently with the future elevation of CO2 levels in seawater, which could be a possible solution to the problem of ongoing coastal eutrophication," which in turn suggests that rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations may also assist in the amelioration of this environmental problem.

Also working with a marine alga - specifically, unicellular Nannochloropsis sp. - was Hoshida et al. (2005), who grew the alga in batch culture under normal (370 ppm) and elevated (3000 and 20,000 ppm) atmospheric CO2 concentrations in an attempt to learn how elevated CO2 impacted the alga's production of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), a major polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acid that may play an important role in human health, including the prevention of cardiovascular diseases (e.g. atherosclerosis, thrombogenesis) and the inhibition of tumor growth and inflammation (Dyerberg et al., 1978; Hirai et al., 1989; Kinsella et al., 1990; Sanders, 1993). They also note that "Nitsan et al. (1999) showed that supplementing the diet of hens with Nannochloropsis sp. led to an increased content of n-3 fatty acids in the egg yolk, indicating an additional role in enhancing the nutritional value of eggs." Likewise, they indicate that "feeding Nannochloropsis sp. to rats caused a significant increase of the content of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (Sukenik et al., 1994)," suggesting it may play an "important role as the source for n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in human nutrition."

What the Japanese scientists learned from their experiment was that "maximum EPA production was obtained when 20,000 ppm CO2 was supplied 12 hours prior to the end of the exponential growth," and that "the total EPA production during 4-day cultivation was about twice that obtained with ambient air." They also report that other researchers have obtained similar results, noting that EPA is mainly contained in thylakoid membranes (Sukenik et al., 1989; Hodgson et al., 1991), and that prior experiments have shown that "the amount of stroma thylakoid membrane increased in several plants under elevated CO2 concentrations (Griffin et al., 2001)." In addition, they say that "in Synechococcus lividus, reduction and synthesis of thylakoid membrane occurred by CO2 deprivation and elevation, respectively (Miller and Holt, 1977)," and that "in Chlorella vulgaris, altering the ambient CO2 concentration varied fatty acid composition (Tsuzuki et al., 1990)." Last of all, they say that "the effect of CO2 on fatty acid composition and/or fatty acid content was reported in algae and higher plants (Tsuzuki et al., 1990; Sergeenko et al., 2000; He et al., 1996; Radunz et al., 2000)," and that "increased EPA production caused by elevated CO2 concentration was reported in P. tricornutum (Yongmanitchai and Ward, 1991)." Consequently, as the atmosphere's CO2 concentration continues to rise, we can expect concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids to be widely enhanced in both aquatic and terrestrial plants, thereby benefiting much of the animal life of the planet.

But what about a major staple crop, such as soybeans? Caldwell et al. (2005) write that "the beneficial effects of isoflavone-rich foods have been the subject of numerous studies (Birt et al., 2001; Messina, 1999)," and that "foods derived from soybeans are generally considered to provide both specific and general health benefits," presumably via these substances. Hence, it is only natural that they - and we - should wonder how the isoflavone content of soybean seeds might be affected by the ongoing rise in the air's CO2 content, and that they would conduct a set of experiments to find the answer.

The three researchers thus grew well watered and fertilized soybean plants from seed to maturity in pots within two controlled-environment chambers, one maintained at an atmospheric CO2 concentration of 400 ppm and one at 700 ppm. The chambers were initially kept at a constant air temperature of 25°C; but at the onset of seed fill air temperature was reduced to 18°C until seed development was complete, in order to simulate average outdoor temperatures at this stage of plant development. In a second experiment, this protocol was repeated, except that the temperature during seed fill was maintained at 23°C, with and without drought (a third treatment), while in a third experiment, seed-fill temperature was maintained at 28°C, with or without drought.

In the first experiment, where air temperature during seed fill was 18°C, the elevated CO2 treatment increased the total isoflavone content of the soybean seeds by 8%. In the second experiment, where air temperature during seed fill was 23°C, the extra CO2 increased total seed isoflavone content by 104%, while in the third experiment, where air temperature during seed fill was 28°C, the CO2-induced isoflavone increase was 101%. Then, when drought-stress was added as a third environmental variable, the extra CO2 boosted total seed isoflavone content by 186% when seed-fill air temperature was 23°C, while at a seed-fill temperature of 28°C, it increased isoflavone content by 38%.

Under all environmental circumstances studied, therefore, enriching the air with an extra 300 ppm of CO2 increased the total isoflavone content of soybean seeds. In addition, the percent increases measured under the stress situations were always greater than the percent increase measured under optimal growing conditions. Consequently, the direct effects of atmospheric CO2 enrichment on the health-promoting properties of soybean seeds are likely universally beneficial and a boon to the entire human race, especially in light of the fact that Bernacchi et al. (2005) characterize the soybean as "the world's most important seed legume."

A second research team to study soybeans within this context and timeframe was that of Kim et al. (2005), who add that important flavoniods "are mainly found in the form of isoflavones in soybean seeds," including "phytoestrogens with various biological potentials such as antioxidative, pharmaceutical, oestrogenic and anticarcinogenic properties, with some acting as antiestrogens and being used as anticancer agents (Peterson and Barnes, 1991; Anderson et al., 1995; Anthony et al., 1996; Arjmandi et al., 1996; Holt, 1997, Chung et al., 2000)." In their study, well watered plants were grown from seed to maturity in pots of sandy loam soil within the closed-environment plant growth facility of the National Horticultural Research Institute of Korea, where the plants were exposed to either natural solar radiation and the natural daily course of ambient air temperature or elevated air temperature (= ambient + 5°C) with either no added nitrogen or added nitrogen equivalent to an extra 40 kg N/ha, and where they were maintained at either ambient CO2 (360 ppm) or elevated CO2 (650 ppm). Then, at the end of the growing season, the plants were harvested and their total biomass determined, while the concentrations of 12 different isoflavones found in their seeds were quantitatively analyzed. These isoflavones included three aglycons (daidzein, genistein, glycitein), three glucosides (diadzin, genistin, glycitin), three acetyl conjugates (6"-O-acetyldaidzin, 6"-O-acetylgenistin, 6"-O-acetylglycitin), and three malonyl conjugates (6"-O-malonyldaidzin, 6"-O-malonylgenistin and 6"-O-malonylglycitin).

The results of this study indicated that the CO2-induced increase in total plant biomass at normal ambient temperatures was 96% in the case of no added nitrogen and 105% in the case of added nitrogen, while at the warmer temperatures it was 59% in the case of no added nitrogen and 68% in the case of added nitrogen. With respect to seed isoflavone concentrations, the CO2-induced increases of all twelve isoflavones were fairly similar to each other. As a group, at normal ambient temperatures the mean increase was 72% in the case of no added nitrogen and 59% in the case of added nitrogen, while at the warmer temperatures it was 72% in the case of no added nitrogen and 106% in the case of added nitrogen. Irrespective of soil nitrogen status and air temperature, therefore, increases in the air's CO2 content produced large increases in soybean biomass, as well as soybean seed concentrations of twelve major isoflavones. Hence, it can be appreciated that as the atmosphere's CO2 concentration continues to rise in the years and decades ahead, both the amount and potency of many important health-promoting substances produced in soybean seeds should be significantly enhanced, providing huge benefits to humanity.

In conclusion, it is becoming ever more apparent that the ongoing rise in the air's CO2 concentration is not only increasing the productivity of earth's terrestrial and aquatic plants, it is significantly increasing the quantity and potency of the many beneficial substances found in their tissues, which are the source of sustenance for most animals and all humans, ultimately making their way onto our dinner tables and into many of the medicines we take, improving our health and helping us better contend with the multitude of diseases and other maladies that regularly afflict us.

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