Organic Food No Healthier or Safer Than Other Food

September 10, 2012 By Mark

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Organic food is big business. It’s expensive and is supposed to be better for you, or is it? In one of the biggest studies of its kind. It seems that it isn’t the case. A team at Stanford University found no added health benefits and, customers aren’t always getting pesticide free food.

The researchers claim it has no more nutritious benefits compared to food grown with pesticides, so there is no benefit to your health. We pay three times more for it, and believe it is better for us. Dr Dena Bravata and her colleagues found no evidence of other health benefits.

In addition, they found there were no guarantees of the food having no pesticides, although the levels were lower. Dr Bravata said: there isn’t much difference between normal foods and organic. If you’re making a decision based on health. The results came from the Internal Medicine Journal, which compared both types of food.

Campaigners in the UK, however, aren’t convinced. They say it wasn’t equipped to note real differences, the researchers looked through many papers associated with organic food. It included studies of people with both normal and organic diets as well as nutritional levels and other reasons. The researchers found no differences in the vitamin and mineral content of it.

There was no difference between protein and fat content in organic milk compared to normal milk. And they could not find specific fruits or vegetables which were healthier. Organic food was 30% lower in pesticides such as fruit and vegetables, but wasn’t always pesticide free. Some studies on children found that their urine were lower in pesticides and were below safe levels.

Also, it’s been said organic farming may not be good for the environment, according to experts atOxfordUniversity, they say, organic cereals, milk and pork, create more greenhouse gases than conventional means of farming.

Is organic food, then just another way for the food industry to make more money? As well as making it seem environmentally friendly when it isn’t. Do you buy organic food on the basis that it’s healthier? Or are you quite happy with conventional non-organic foods. Certainly, some food for thought here. Sorry about the pun.

Organic food isn’t healthier and no safer than produce grown with pesticides, finds biggest study of its kind

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http://exercisebasics.blogspot.com/ Brandon Goulding

Interesting read. I’d like to read the actual study to see the methodology. I hadn’t assumed that organic food was better for you than “normal” – aside from there not being as many pesticides – but I was under the impression that it was better for the environment.

I still think that buying produce from local sources must be better than buying imported with regards to greenhouse gases. Less transport cost and all that jazz. Great post.
http://www.facebook.com/christopher.govina Christopher Govina

I heard about this meta study, and I’m not really surprised. However, the problem is one of marketing among the Organic Community. They went with pesticides and vitamins or the nebulous saving of the earth from global warming. That only put them on the well meaning kooks list with me. Why they discarded the most obvious reason for organic, the taste, not that it tastes better, but has any taste at all in a lot of cases, is the only case to make.
Ross Quintana

I can see a glaring flaw in this study. Buying organic food doesn’t add vitamins or health benefits, buying organic is about not consuming as many chemical pesticides. This study is being marketed in a way that isn’t telling the real story. Most likely by people who support chemical companies. An organic banana isn’t higher in vitamins and that was never the expectation. This is called a red herring fallacy. Eating less chemicals is why people buy organic.
Petra

Of course it would not be more nutritious or healthy if food is grown in USA, it is all about money there, so organic will not really be organic & pesticides free. It seems to me that people there are so far removed from real food that they can’t see the difference. I had eaten organic food as a child, it has lovely aroma, it is testier, it had no chemicals & pesticides on it & I know what I would choose to eat any time given a choice. Growing organic food is difficult business(I am farmer’s daughter) & perhaps it is time for all of us to start appreciating food that is good for us & people who grow it. If the food is of high quality then we would only need a little & can really enjoy it.