If you feel discouraged and want to give up on organic food just because you’ve heard kind of negative reviews about organic food in the news lately, you are not alone! The media has been reporting that organic food is no more nutritious than conventional foods. Thus, there is no need to buy organic food. My first reaction to the study was sheer disbelief and disappointment that I was spending more money on organic when I could have just gone mainstream. After rationally weighing the information in my mind, I came to the conclusion that something must have gone wrong with the study. It did sound fishy! How could such important information be based on just one university study and no long term data comparison between two? SO what is the truth about organic food?
The Hidden Truth About Organic Food
After some investigation, I discovered that the Standford organic study was a fraud because there was no real study done. The researches at the University basically collected 200 peer-reviewed studies that examined differences between organic and conventional food, or the people who eat it. Nothing was planted, and nothing was compared properly. It was really a review of prior published studies, and who knows if those studies handled crops correctly.
Take a look at the key differences between conventional farming and organic farming:
Conventional
- Apply chemical fertilizers to promote plant growth.
- Spray synthetic insecticides to reduce pests and disease.
- Use synthetic herbicides to manage weeds.
- Give animals antibiotics, growth hormones and medications to prevent disease and spur growth.
Organic
- Apply natural fertilizers, such as manure or compost, to feed soil and plants.
- Spray pesticides from natural sources; use beneficial insects and birds, mating disruption or traps to reduce pests and disease.
- Use environmentally-generated plant-killing compounds; rotate crops, till, hand weed or mulch to manage weeds.
- Give animals organic feed and allow them access to the outdoors. Use preventive measures — such as rotational grazing, a balanced diet and clean housing — to help minimize disease.
Health Benefits of Organic Food
I don’t know about you, but after comparing side by side the differences in farming, I can logically deduce that Organic is better for you since food produced organically contains fewer contaminants. Some scientific studies did show that there are more nutrients in organically produced food. An American study found that organically grown food contained much higher than average levels of minerals than non-organic food. A comprehensive review of 97 published studies comparing the nutritional quality of organic and conventional foods shows that organic plant-based foods (fruits, vegetables, grains) contain higher levels of eight of 11 nutrients studied, including significantly greater concentrations of the health-promoting polyphenols and antioxidants.
Also, organic fruits and vegetables had significantly higher levels of cancer-fighting antioxidants, according to a 2003 study in Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. A U.S. research team from Emory University in Atlanta analyzed urine samples from children ages three to 11 who ate only organic foods and found that they contained virtually no metabolites of two common pesticides, malathion and chlorpyrifos. However, once the children returned to eating conventionally grown foods, concentrations of these pesticide metabolites quickly climbed as high as 263 parts per billion, says the study.
So, does organic Matter?
Of course, it does. Even the fact that Organic production prohibits any uses of pesticides and antibiotics establishes important health benefits.
In conclusion, I think there is plenty of evidence to support Organic Farming! We can’t become victims of the mainstream media!
