To Go Organic or Not?
To Go Organic or Not?
This month it is Organic September and we are celebrating organic foods. But are they really that much healthier for us?
Organic food, is grown and produced differently to conventionally produced food, is said to contain fewer contaminants and additives is thought to be more environmentally friendly too.
The Soil Association defines organic to mean working with nature. That there are… ‘higher levels of animal welfare, lower levels of pesticides, no manufactured herbicides or artificial fertilisers and more environmentally sustainable management of the land and natural environment, which means more wildlife.’
By choosing organic products are we choosing a better world?
Although organic foods have been available for decades, and some may say that this is how our ancestors used to grow food, now we can choose from an ever increasing number of organic foods, all available to us from our supermarkets or local veg box schemes (Riverford or Able & Cole are the two main ones currently).
But is organic food better for us?
The expected health benefits may be one of the strongest motivations for us to continually buy organic produce.
More and more research is suggesting that by consuming organic food we can potentially reduce our risk for chronic disease, therefore helping us to maintain an optimal health status. There is a huge amount of scientific evidence that looks at the relationship between exposure to pesticides and elevated rate of chronic diseases, for example diabetes, different types of cancers, neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson and Alzheimer as well as reproductive disorders and birth defects, to name a few.
The reason for this may be because of the higher content of healthy bioactive compounds that organic foods offer as well as a lower level of unhealthy toxins such as pesticides, synthetic fertilizers and toxic metals such as cadmium. Organic food is also said to lower our risk of cancers due to fewer carcinogens.
Other studies have looked at the lower levels of nitrates in organic food compared to conventionally produced food. This may be a good thing as nitrates have been linked to higher risks of developing gastrointestinal cancer as well as blood disorders in children such as methemoglobinemia.
Should everything we eat be organic?
One of the potential downsides to buying organic food may be the cost? Organic food does cost more that conventionally grown produce. This is partly because it is more labour intensive and crops may be smaller. However in order to make organic food more affordable, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) put 2 lists together to help narrow down the choices for us.
Dirty Dozen and the Clean 15
The Dirty Dozen list shows us the 12 vegetables and fruits that contain the highest concentrations of pesticides - these foods are recommended to be avoided.
The Clean Fifteen list shows us the 15 vegetables and fruits that contain the fewest concentrations of pesticides. These may be the safest conventially grown foods for us to buy.
Dirty Dozen - https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/dirty-dozen.php
Clean 15 - https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/clean-fifteen.php
At the end of the day, it is down to personal choice. In a world that is increasing in toxicity it is nice to be able to control a little of what goes in to our bodies. Some people may find that they are able to tolerate higher levels of toxins than others but if you need to improve hormone levels, liver detoxification or your gut health this may be one small thing you can do to help.
If you are having digestive problems, get in touch for a free discovery call or for a full consultation.
Sources:
Baudry, J., Assmann, K., Touvier, M., Allès, B., Seconda, L., Latino-Martel, P., Ezzedine, K., Galan, P., Hercberg, S., Lairon, D. and Kesse-Guyot, E. (2018). Association of Frequency of Organic Food Consumption With Cancer Risk. JAMA Internal Medicine, 178(12), p.1597.
EWG. (2019). EWG. [online] Available at: https://www.ewg.org/ [Accessed 5 Sep. 2019].
Hashem, S., Migliore, G., Schifani, G., Schimmenti, E. and Padel, S. (2018). Motives for buying local, organic food through English box schemes. British Food Journal, 120(7), pp.1600-1614.
McReynolds, K., Gillan, W. and Naquin, M. (2017). An Examination of College Students’ Knowledge, Perceptions, and Behaviors Regarding Organic Foods. American Journal of Health Education, 49(1), pp.48-55.
Soilassociation.org. (2019). What Is Organic? | Soil Association. [online] Available at: https://www.soilassociation.org/organic-living/what-is-organic/ [Accessed 4 Sep. 2019].
Valdes, A., Walter, J., Segal, E. and Spector, T. (2018). Role of the gut microbiota in nutrition and health. BMJ, p.k2179.