Organic food offers no benefits...
But, it is more expensive...
Organic food lovers may insist their produce, meat and milk are fresher, tastier, and better for the environment. But a new study suggests they aren't any more nutritious.
The study, commissioned by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), an independent department set up by the British government, found no significant differences in the nutrition content of organic food compared with conventionally made food.
The study was a systematic review, or meta-analysis, of dozens of studies on organic foods, published over the past 50 years, and was conducted by a team of researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The researchers say they found more than 52,000 articles on organic food, and narrowed them down to 162 studies analyzing the nutrient content of organic versus conventionally produced foods.
They found no evidence of a difference between organic and conventional crops in terms of their content of a number of nutrients, including:
* vitamin C
* magnesium
* calcium
* potassium
* zinc
* copper
Conventional crops were found to contain more nitrogen than organics, and organic crops had higher phosphorus and acidity content than conventional crops.
3 Comments:
What really makes me laugh is that the 4 packs of organic bell peppers at Loblaws come from Europe. Organic yes. Heavy on the "carbon footprint"? You bet.
If only the granola crunchers would pay more attention....
If nutrition content is an issue, it never should have been. No nutrition expert would suggest otherwise.
Organic is about reducing unnecessary chemical residues; no hormones, no antibiotics, no pesticides, no artificial fertilizers, etc.
As for carbon footprint: A locally sourced tomato that arrived on a truck with a few hundred pounds of tomatoes may have a higher carbon footprint per pound of produce than a shipload of tomatoes sent from overseas, but who cares? Local baby! It's hip! It's now! It makes you FEEL good!
I don't see how anyone could believe this. No synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals or biotechnology (i.e., genetically modified organisms, or GMO)!! This means health, it means benefits for health!
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