Organic food is healthier: study

Some organic foods, including fruit, vegetables and milk, may be more nutritious than non-organic produce, according to an investigation by British scientists.

Early results from a £12m study showed that organic fruit and vegetables contained up to 40% more antioxidants than non-organic varieties, according to Professor Carlo Leifert at Newcastle University, who leads the EU-funded Quality Low Input Food project.

Larger differences were found in milk, with organic varieties containing more than 60% more antioxidants and healthy fatty acids, he said.

Antioxidant-rich food is often promoted as healthier because in lab tests the compounds neutralise free radicals that are thought to contribute to ageing.

The findings contradict advice from the Food Standards Agency, which maintains there is no scientific evidence to suggest organic food is healthier.

During the four-year project, Prof Leifert's team, which is based at the university's Tesco centre for organic agriculture, reared cattle and grew fruit and vegetables on adjacent organic and non-organic sites across Europe, including a 725-acre farm attached to the university. The full results of the study will be released in full over the next 12 months.

"What we're really interested in is finding out why there is so much variability ... What in the agricultural system gives a higher nutritional content and less of the baddies in the food?" Prof Leifert said.

Why Organic Food

Organic Food: Healthier for You and the Planet

Though known colloquially as food that is grown to be more healthy (and is more expensive), in order for organic food to be certified as such, it must be produced under specific, legally-regulated standards and be subject to testing in order to retain certification.

Organic food: the definition
In agriculture, this means that crops were grown without the use of conventional pesticides, artificial fertilizers or sewage sludge, and that they were processed without food additives (like chemical preservatives). When it comes to animals, they must be reared without the routine use of antibiotics and growth hormones and fed a diet of organic foods. In most countries, organic produce must not be genetically modified.

Organic food "stores": a history
Historically, organic produce was almost exclusively available directly from small family-run farms or at community farmer's markets. Lately, though, organic foods are becoming much more widely available; organic food sales in the United States have grown by 17 to 20 percent a year for the past few years, while sales of conventional food have grown more slowly, at about 2 to 3 percent a year. This explosion in popularity has led the way for bigger companies, like Wal-Mart, to get into the organic food business and change the way that organics are perceived and, to a certain extent, the way they're produced.

"Organic" vs. "health" food: all about certification
Perhaps the most important thing to understand about organic food is the relationship between legal (usually government) oversight and production of food employing earth-friendly practices. In order to be "certified," organic food -- and the farm it was grown on -- must apply for certification, pass a rigorous series of tests, and pay a fee for the process. In the US, this process is regulated by the US Department of Agriculture; as a government agency, it's subject to politicization and changing rules as different administrations and individuals assert their influence. As such, all "certified" organic food is organic, but not all organic food is certified. This, in part, has led to the increasing popularity of local food over organic food (but that's another post).

The growing market for organic food
As organics have grown in popularity, more and more food items are available in organic varieties. What used to be the nearly exclusive realm of fruits and vegetables has grown to include processed foods like coffee (though its days may be numbered), ketchup and ice cream -- a veritable orgy of organic food that has come to include just about anything and everything you eat on a daily basis. The modulation of the market to include more processed foods marks a sea change in the organic industry, though, as these processed foods are increasingly coming from large conglomerates and companies producing huge amounts of canned goods, frozen vegetables, pre-prepared dishes and the like.

Will organic food become the next "all-natural"?
While the ingredients are certified, this "industrialization of organic" down conveyor belts and into a carbon-intensive supply chain is a bit antithetical to organics' original purpose of creating "an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity. It is based on minimal use of off-farm inputs and on management practices that restore, maintain and enhance ecological harmony", as defined by the USDA National Organic Standards Board.

Still, the only way to be sure that the food you're eating is organic, short of growing it yourself (or buying it from someone you trust not to have soaked it in pesticides), is looking for certification marks, like the USDA Organic Seal, pictured here. Elsewhere, similar government regulations and third-party inspectors certify that food is produced to certain standards; in Australia, it's the NASAA Organic Standards, in Japan, the JAS Standards must be met. In the United States, In the United States, the Organic Food Production Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C.A. § 6501-22) required that the USDA develop national standards for organic products. The regulations (7 C.F.R. Part 205) are enforced by the USDA through the National Organic Program under this act. These laws essentially require that any product that claims to be organic must have been manufactured and handled according to specific NOP requirements. A USDA Organic seal identifies products with at least 95% organic ingredients.

Scientific benefits of organic food and organic farming
Given the industrialization of organics and various attempts to water down organic standards, there are some widely agreed-upon benefits of organic farming, including things like: organic farms do not release synthetic pesticides into the environment, some of which have the potential to harm local wildlife; organic farms are better than conventional farms at sustaining diverse ecosystems, i.e., populations of plants and insects, as well as animals; and when calculated either per unit area or per unit of yield, organic farms use less energy and produce less waste, e.g., waste such as packaging materials for chemicals.

Further, a 2002 study found that "Organically grown foods consistently had about one-third as many residues as conventionally grown foods"; additionally, several studies corroborate this finding by having found that that while 77 percent of conventional food carries synthetic pesticide residues, only about 25 percent of organic food does. So, generally, organic food isn't going to have as much nasty residue on it, and that is a very good thing.

Does organic food taste better?
But what about taste? A 2001 study by researchers at Washington State University concluded that organic apples were sweeter. Along with taste and sweetness, the texture and firmness of the apples were also rated higher than those grown conventionally. These differences are attributed to the greater soil quality resulting from organic farming techniques compared to those of conventional farming. However, a different small study looking at processed organic foods found participants could not differentiate organic and conventional varieties of a rice cakes.

Criticism of buying organic food
The biggest criticism of organic food, though, is the price premium. According to the Journal of Food Science, organic products typically cost 10 to 40% more than similar, conventionally-produced products. Prices tend to be higher because organic produce is produced on a smaller scale, and may need to be milled or processed separately; some of the price premium is likely to decrease as organic produce continues to scale up. Organic foods also tend to include more of the environmental costs that conventional agriculture tends to externalize. So, you're paying more for what's not in your food (pesticides, hormones, etc.) and you're paying more of the actual cost of food production, because things like pesticides aren't being passed along to the environment where friendly fuzzy bunnies and clear-running spring water pay for them.

Read more about organic food
For more information on organics, see Wikipedia's organic food entry, along with their organic farming entry. Local Harvest has more info on the different "shades" of organic you're likely to find at your local farmer's markets, while the USDA's National Organic Program and Alternative Farming Information Center will provide all the facts and definitions for organics (and give you some idea of the government's role in all of this).

More information about organic food in TreeHugger
Here at TreeHugger, we've written a lot about organics; we think organic milk is healthier, know that organics make the supply chain healthier, like to support new organic farms, take note when Wal-Mart and Safeway start incorporating organics, and believe that organic ketchup helps prevent cancer -- really! Read more in our How to Green Your Meals guide, or just type "organic" into our search engine and go nuts!

Organic Food Garden

Organic Food vs. Non-Organic - Which is Better?

Farming has been around for ages. At a point in time, this was what most people did until other things developed such as the automobile industry. The old way of farming otherwise known as non-organic involved the use of the following to fight pest infestations and to produce better crops.

The first are pesticides and herbicides. This was discovered in foods that appear to have highly toxic chemical residues. Thought the FDA has already banned these fertilizers from being used, chemical companies export it. Since some crops are imported, this comes back to the States and is eaten at home.

The second is contaminated sewage sludge. The idea was to use human waste to fertilize non-organic crops. This wasn’t a bad idea but this is also mixed with chemical and industrial waste before being sent to the treatment plant. Tests have shown that large amounts of this in the human body may contribute to chronic illnesses.

The third is the use hormones, antibiotics and remains of other animals. This is usually found in eggs, meat and dairy products. Doctors consider this as a disaster waiting to happen since incidents such as mad cow disease has already happened. This problem could even be worse for humans if this is ingested.

The last is irradiation. Spices are exposed to radiation to kill bacteria or microorganisms that may be present. This also does more harm than good since it can lead to various diseases.

Recently, studies have shown a different view since the chemicals and other substances used are toxic which caused various illnesses and deaths. To alleviate this threat, the government has decided to make changes in the agricultural industry. It encourages farmer to shift from the old ways to something that is better and safer for everyone.

This is what organic farming is all about. This kind of farming aims to develop crops and livestock using the most environmental, humane, economic systems available to date. For this to work, 2 things are needed. First is fertile land that can be used to plant different crops. The other is people who will work on the land.

European countries are also veering away from the old approach and are practicing it. These countries call it ecological agriculture which relies heavily on taking care of the environment.

Organic farming works on the following things:

1. Making sure the soil can be used for a very long time without the use fertilizers that were used in non-organic farming.

2. Giving the crops proper care using soil organisms and not by using pesticides.

3. The recycling of livestock manures and organic materials which includes crop residues.

4. Controlling the growth of weeds and insect infestation through crop rotation. This means not using anything that science has used in the ways of non-organic farming.

5. The growth of farm animals by paying attention to the evolutionary adaptations and respect for the natural process. This means that genetic engineering is strictly prohibited.

6. Lastly, the effects of this method on the environment.

In terms of which is better, everyone can see that this new approach is safer and better than the old one. It no longer uses genetic engineering, irradiation and sewage sludge which were the things used to make non-organic produce.

It is not easy though to stop non-organic produce to enter the market. This is because some products that are the demanded by the consumer have to be imported. Even if there efforts on the part of the government to ban the use of such substances, there are no regulations in the countries that export it to the United States.

Unless there is a regulation that is agreed by that country or the crops that are imported can be made locally in a major scale, this is something that cannot be eradicated. The best thing to do is to only buy organic foods that could substitute those that are not.

This requires more support from the consumer and tougher government legislation for the safety of the public.

The number of organic farmers has more than doubled in the past 16 years. This will continue to grow as long people see the bigger picture.

Organic Food (Yahoo Answers 2007)

Why organic food?

Benefits of Consuming Organic Food

Simply put, the term 'organic food' means that a food has been produced without harmful chemicals such as herbicides (weed killers), fungicides (mold killers), and insecticides (insect killers) which are potentially cancer causing and it also prohibits the use of antibiotics in animal feed, which are routinely used in conventional farming. Organic farming also benefits the farm workers who have high exposure to chemicals and synthetic pesticides. The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported millions of serious unintentional poisonings and people hospitalized for suicide attempts with pesticides each year. It is estimated that there could be as many as 25 million agricultural workers in the developing world suffering an episode of poisoning each year.

Organic production yields are often lower because the farms do not involve the use of artificial fertilizers, pesticides and other technological aids. Also, labor intensity is greater and many organic farms are smaller than conventional farms, thus missing economies of scale. However, in the last decade, responding to the growing demand, mainstream grocers are stocking more organic produce, milk, baby food, and meats, while healthy-food chains have opened dozens of stores. Many people are prepared to accept the extra cost and pay the extra money largely on the grounds that they believe organic foods are more nutritious and safer than foods produced by conventional methods, and are be less harmful to the environment and to food producers. Generally, it is believed that organic production reduces health risks and especially for pregnant women and children, the benefits of organic are worth the higher price. Going organic whenever possible for fruits and vegetables that carry the heaviest pesticide load makes sense for these vulnerable groups of consumers. Some suspect that high doses of pesticides can cause neurological or reproductive damage. With infant reproductive organs still forming and the brain developing and with young immune systems less able to rid bodies of contaminants, eating organic is more important for children and pregnant or breast-feeding women. Furthermore, levels of antioxidants potentially important substances in human nutrition – in addition to vitamins and minerals have generally been reported to be higher in organic foods. This may be because these natural chemicals are produced to protect the plant against insect pests, and organic crops have less pesticide protection. Another theory is that the faster growth in artificially fertilized crops causes the plant to concentrate resources for growth rather than production of these antioxidants. An additional argument used in support of organic food is that it 'tastes better'. A report by the highly respected Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) concludes that organically grown (golden delicious) apples were found to be firmer and received higher taste scores than conventionally grown apples. Another study showed that organic tomatoes were sweeter and organic carrots had more "carrot taste".

While the emerging information so far does suggest higher levels of some nutritional components in organic food, the basis for human health advantages of consuming organic foods has to be further developed. Many nutritionists say that a well-formulated diet, organic or not, is all that is required for sufficient intake of health-giving nutrients. Supporters of organic food argue that with consistent consumption, even small advantages could be significant over time. This can only be answered by appropriately controlled scientific studies in human populations, which are difficult to accomplish. Assessing the health and environmental benefits of any system requires a full life-cycle analysis with evaluation of benefits and impediments at each stage. For example, although organic agriculture clearly has benefits in preservation of wildlife and habitat, results in less environmental pollution and preserves soil fertility, critics argue that there are also disadvantages compared to conventional food production. As two examples, mechanical energy inputs are greater in organic production and ‘zero-till’ agriculture, which uses herbicides, may be more environmentally friendly than the mechanical weed control used in organic cultivation. In any case, more sophisticated analyses of the nutritional quality of conventional versus organic foods is required – in animal foods as well as plant foods before a more definitive answer is available. Even though organic production is not a perfect solution in science or practice, it will probably always be around, because it adds to the choices available to those consumers who more conscious about the health and safety of food production systems.

Organic Foods

The Benefits Of Organic Food For Your Health

Organic food health benefits are debated more than ever. With people demanding to buy organic food more, researchers are tying to find the benefits and risks of eating organically.

Sometimes researchers have said that the organic food health benefits are really nonexistent, while with other studies, multiple benefits have been found. By researching organic foods, a person can find the real story about organic food health benefits.

Organic food health benefits may begin with the debate of the nutrition level of certified organic food versus regularly grown food. Depending on what information is read, different information is given.

According to the research on organic food that the New York Times did in 2003, their report was that "recent preliminary evidence suggests that the levels of certain nutrients, especially vitamin C, some minerals and some polyphenols -- naturally occurring antioxidants that may help bolster the immune system -- are higher in organically grown crops."

This comment alone reinforces such food health benefits that a person can gain by eating fresh organic food.

Outside organic growing, many farmers, in order to have their plants grow larger and more bountiful, add pesticides and toxins. Such food health benefits stem from the lack of these toxins and pesticides.

Pesticides have been linked to making people ill, and can cause a person to avoid fresh vegetables that are needed for an overall healthy diet. Toxins in the body can cause problems such as headaches and tremors.

Because organic food health benefits help reduce the risk of these undesirable benefits, natural and organic food should be definitely taken into consideration when choosing foods.

One particular such food health benefit occurs when the additives that are found in almost all foods are not used. Organic food production prohibits the use of food additives such as preservatives, artificial sweeteners, and hydrogenated fat.

This in itself is excellent for all people but especially children. The less artificial sweeteners that children can be exposed to the better according to most doctors.

Organic food health benefits are numerous. Debates rage as to what exact benefits organically grown food can offer the public. Some claim that the nutrient levels are higher, others say they are the same.

But one thing is for sure. Organically grown food offers little to no pesticides, and this can help everyone be healthier. No matter whether studies are right in linking certain ailments to pesticides or not, even children can gain from such food health benefits.

Because of the lack of artificial ingredients, children can be healthier and happier. This fact alone is enough to make anyone start enjoying fresh organic food.