At the end of July I read an article in my morning paper discussing the nutritional benefits of organic food. Or, more specifically, the lack of nutritional benefits. It seems that a review was recently published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, which suggested that conventionally-grown and organically-grown food have the same nutritional content. Or at least, no significant difference in most of the nutrient categories analyzed. The conclusion is that if you’re looking for nutritional superiority, there’s no reason to buy organic.
There have been studies and reviews that found some health benefits associated with organic production. This study didn’t. I’m not in a position to judge who is right and who is wrong. My guess is it’s not that clear cut anyways, since the researchers who found no benefit also called for more and better research into the nutritional content of food and the factors that affect it. There is much about food and how it grows that we don’t understand, and we shouldn’t conclude that the final verdict is in based on one review.
I contend than none of that really matters, though. Few people buy organic food because they’re looking for nutritional superiority. Or at least, that’s not why I opt for organic food. I choose to buy food that is organic, or sustainably produced, or what-have-you because I don’t want pesticides or genetically modified organisms in my food. I especially don’t want them in my children’s food. And I don’t want them leaching into our waterways and our ecosystem. While there may or may not be other benefits to eating organic food, avoiding exposure to potentially toxic chemicals is enough for me.
How bad are all those pesticides, really? As it turns out, they’re really pretty bad. Pesticides have been implicated in the widespread disappearance of honeybees. They are also highly toxic to amphibians, including frogs, whose numbers are in serious decline. And pesticides are harmful to birds, causing effects ranging from a reduction in insect food to thinning eggshells. And there are negative effects on humans, as well, as some pesticides are potential carcinogens or endocrine disruptors.
I will be honest and say that I don’t eat a completely organic diet. For various reasons, I buy a lot of conventionally produced food, although I would say that the proportion of organic food in my diet is steadily increasing. I’m doing the best I can, just as we all are. And while I believe that my efforts do matter, I also recognize that this issue is much bigger than I am, and requires large-scale change to resolve.
So, maybe the organic blueberries I bought at the farmer’s market are the same as the conventionally-grown blueberries at the supermarket, nutritionally-speaking. But that doesn’t mean that they’re the same blueberries on all counts, you know? Which is why I will opt for the organic and local food, given the choice.
What about you? Do you opt for organic or sustainably-grown food, or do you think it’s just not worth the extra money?
I've been biasing my food purchases toward organic since the early 90's. It's not just about taste and nutrients. Choosing organic also means a) not ruining the soil with chemical fertilizers, b) not harming farm workers who have to be exposed to the pesticides, c) long term sustainability (most conventional (i.e. chemical-based) argiculture leads to more pests in the long run and then more chemicals to try to get rid of them).
We’re like you, we try to buy organic when we can though not everything we buy is. I laughed when that study first came out, I had never heard anyone claim that organic and non-organic were different in terms of nutrition. It was always about the pesticides and chemicals used in growing the foods.
I find that the more I learn about this, the more convinced I become that we should all 1) cut back significantly on the calories we consume to decrease demand, 2) grow as much as we can ourselves in our backyards, 3) eat what’s in season, 4) set up community food centres where we could purchase local food and participate in canning/freezing sessions.
And here’s why I feel that way: 1) organic labels are still really ubiquitous, 2) organic and sustainable can sometimes contradict each other (e.g. using no-till techniques for water conservation means that pesticides are needed…where’s the trade-off?), 3) we need farmers to get more $$, desperately, instead of middlemen.
Anyways, you’re right, it definitely isn’t the same blueberry… And maybe the answer isn’t on a large scale, maybe it is all small solutions, up to us to change!
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I spoke about this with my dad. While our farm is termed “conventional” as opposed to the only other option (organic) we do reduce pesticide use and do things like use a corn cannon to scare away birds and have dogs to keep the raccoons out of the corn fields. We use dormant oils on our apples, and our apples have been tested in the past to have no pesticide residue on them. Anyway, my dad is a proponent of using pesticides, fertilizers, etc. in small quantities, targeting a specific pest, as needed. Many industrial farms just spray, spray, spray, kind of how CAFO’s put antibiotics in the feed, just in case. However, because my family lives on the farm, they do everything they can to keep the air, water and soil healthy, while still getting the best crops they believe they can get, based on years and years of experience.
As my dad put it, organic is good for industrially grown food, and we buy it because we know it’s better for the environment. But I haven’t found organic industrially grown food to taste any different than conventional industrially grown food, and an organic tomato produced miles and miles away never tastes as good as a locally grown one. For me, I’ll always buy local first. Organic is like my back-up plan if I don’t know and trust the person who grew it.
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I’m groping my way through this as well. I will buy, like the previous commenter said, local first, then organic. To me, organic is all about responsible growing practices — it seems to me that organic producers are mindful of the earth and of the consumers before chasing the almighty dollar. Very interesting articles, tho!
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I will spend the extra money to buy organic on some things. I am paranoid about milk and hormones given to cows so I always buy that organic.
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Oh, Amber, another great topic, one that is so dear to me. Forgive me if sometimes I just read your posts, and then come back to them much later in the morning to comment … I’d be a slow and tired commenter tonight!
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Yes, yes, yes…. to the post and to the comments above.
I started a little garden in my sideyard this year… both organic and about as local as I can get. It has been a thrill for me to eat from my own backyard! Even if it is only a 10ft x 4ft plot.
Farmers don’t have it easy, the pressure must be enormous to be a mega-crop producer. My favourite kind of farm to buy from is the kind with a little bit of everything and a way to buy the veggies right off the cart…. but they are too rare!
Meat production probably scares me the most… hormones, anitbiotics, feed that isn’t in their natural realm. But I can’t grow my own meat, and the government has made it illegal to buy a side of beef from the guy down the road (it MUST be inspected at a facility), so I just try to chose plant proteins more often.
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Oh I wish we could eat more organic (for the same reasons as you) but the truth is we just can’t afford it right now (there was a time when most of what we ate was organic). Our groceries cost us about $1000/month when I’m being really, really careful and to buy organic would increase our costs significantly.
I do watch for sales and I do find sometimes, that the price of an organic item is very similar to the non-organic and I’m all over it.
I hope that one day, organic will be the norm and it will be cheaper because everyone is buying it. Until then I’ll feel guilty about what I’m feeding my kids.
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The idea of buying organic is great, but with no fertilizers, pesticides or GMOs, we won’t have great crop yields. That means less food on a limited agricultural land base, or expansion of agricultural land that will permanently denude our forests. So, I have to say I support ‘conventional’ farms and will probably only buy organic when I can’t find it in the regular bin.
I do, however, whole-heartedly support local produce. It’s very limited up north where I am, but when it’s fresh, you can tell. I also support organic meat (ie hunting), but maybe that just means that I’m officially a redneck now
I think there are two issues here: the quality of nutrients, and the environmental and health costs of using pesticides and chemicals. About the first issue, I firmly believe that a tomato, say worse case, grown in winter in a greenhouse in a pot full of pellets, a little spout trickling out just the right chemical concoction to make it grow large and red, and sprayed to be kept healthy, is just not the same as a tomato grown on a vine in a soil rich with organic matter in the bright summer sunlight. I’m sure both these tomatoes have exactly the same quantity of vitamin C (and not the same taste), but I also know which kind of vitamin C will benefit my body. Organic is more than not using pesticides: it’s a whole different philosophy that implies respect for our environment, respect for nature’s cycles, respect for our health etc
Producing organic quality food is a costly process.
I buy our staple foods organically grown, and our produce local and seasonal, when it doesn’t come from our garden. It means that we eat tomatoes in summer and cabbage in winter: but that winter cabbage has the right vitamins and phytonutrients that we need for the cold months.
PS and I occasionally treat myself with an avocado (from Israel I believe), because no season is a good season here in Italy without some Mexican guacamole:)
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I always buy organic milk and usually get organic chicken, but other produce varies. I’m trying to choose more wisely, now that we have kids!
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It’s a complicated issue, as everyone here obviously understands. It costs more to grow and to buy organic, so for now it could be seen as a bit of a luxury. It would be nice if it could becocme more mainstream. We have an organic farmer down the road where we get all our produce all summer — even the garlic tastes better! — but in the winter the pickings are slimmer. I do think it’s odd that they would choose to do a study on nutritional content — that’s so not the point.
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It strikes me as funny how much media attention that study got, and yet it is completely irrelevant in the fact that, as you said, those who do buy organic usually don’t buy it for extra nutritional values, but rather for what they DON’T get, i.e. pesticides and the likes.
What really bothers me about this study, and all the hype around it, is that it might influence some people on misinformation. Not everyone has time to, or are inclines to, do in depth research on a subject. And that’s fine, but for those people, headlines such as these holds value. So when you have headline such as these, in misinforms them. They will say “Oh well, there’s no need to buy organic anymore”, and will pass beside the whole health benefits it has to offer, and which they might have been seeking too.
(I actually wrote a post about it too when it came out!)
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