'Organic' May Not Mean Healthier
The following are excerpts from a report on a British study that looked into the health value of "organic" foods compared to normally processed foods. The findings are interesting and are detailed below in the article.
"WEDNESDAY, July 29 (HealthDay News) -- Food that beckons from the organic aisles of grocery stores may not be any better for you than what lines the rest of supermarket shelves.
According to a British review of studies done over the past 50 years, organic and conventionally produced foods have about the same nutrient content, suggesting that neither is better in terms of health benefits.
'We did not find any important differences in nutrient content between organically and conventionally produced foods,' said study author Alan Dangour, a registered public health nutritionist with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine."
'As a registered dietitian, it is good to see that a systematic review of the literature supports what has long been believed -- that the nutritional content of traditionally grown foods and organic foods are comparable,' said Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis and past president of the American Dietetic Association. 'This report provides confirmation for consumers that if they choose conventionally grown foods or organic foods they will be meeting their nutritional needs.'"
"They found no noted differences between conventional and organic crops with regard to vitamin C, magnesium, calcium, potassium, zinc and copper content. Organic crops did have higher levels of phosphorus, and conventionally produced crops had higher levels of nitrogen."
"And there's another aspect to the organic vs. conventional food debate, said Sheah Rarback, director of nutrition at the Mailman Center for Child Development at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
'You have to also look at what you're not getting' with organic foods, she said. 'Maybe it's not a big difference nutritionally, but conventional products may have more pesticides.'"
Source:
Gardner, Amanda, "'Organic' May Not Mean Healthier", HealthDay, July 29th, AD 2009, http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/07/29/organic-may-not-mean-healthier.html, accessed August 4th, AD 2009.
