Does anyone have links to studies that show organic food is healthier...

[Paz]

I am hearing that it is all hype on a show I just turned to on tv. I know you ladies here are very well informed.

[Heidi]

Unless consuming pesticides and chemical fertilizers is their idea of a well balanced diet, what was the show's evidence for saying organic food wasn't any healthier?

 

No links but here's a bump.

[LAS in LA]

I don't have any studies for you. Just keep in mind that consumer health is not the only reason to support organic. The health of farmers who spend years around pesticides and herbicides is also at risk in a conventional set-up. And how about the factory workers who produce those chemicals?

[MSNative]

All the studies I've seen show that organic food has no more nutritional value.

http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/organic-food-nutrition-47072905

 

Pesticides are a diff. story. There are competing studies on how clean you can actually get produce. I like this one, though I'm sure others can find contradictory ones.

http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=dailytip&dbid=372

[Jennifer in MI]

I don't have any studies. I just use common sense. Consuming chemicals is not good for you. It simply can't be. I'm choosing to err on the side of caution.

 

I'm also interested in the studies the show you watched used to say organic isn't better?

[Alte Veste Academy]

Just keep in mind that consumer health is not the only reason to support organic. The health of farmers who spend years around pesticides and herbicides is also at risk in a conventional set-up. And how about the factory workers who produce those chemicals?

 

:iagree:

 

And the Earth! My heavens, the state of the Earth! Organic farmers have to work with and build soil. Industrial farming basically uses chemicals to the point that they are farming in dirt. Year after year after year, they are putting more chemicals and pesticides in, common sense be darned. Honestly, I don't care if both products have the same amount of vitamin A. I would prefer the food that is produced the way nature intended.

 

Don't even get me started on GMOs. :glare:

 

ETA: These are the reasons I buy organic. Top 10 Reasons to Support Organic in the 21st Century

Edited October 29, 2011 by Alte Veste Academy

[melissel]

I don't have any studies. I just use common sense. Consuming chemicals is not good for you. It simply can't be. I'm choosing to err on the side of caution.

 

I agree.

 

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16451864

 

We found that the median urinary concentrations of the specific metabolites for malathion and chlorpyrifos decreased to the nondetect levels immediately after the introduction of organic diets and remained nondetectable until the conventional diets were reintroduced.

 

And as for how clean you can get produce, the past few years have shown us that fruits and vegetables absorb bacteria such as listeria and e. coli. It stands to reason that they'll also absorb the pesticides that they're bombarded with and that permeate the soil they're grown in.

Edited October 29, 2011 by melissel

[Carol in Cal.]

I've seen various studies over the years showing things like more dense vitamins or minerals in organic than regular produce, but they tend to be small studies of just one variety. To me, though, it just stands to reason that when food is grown the way it was created or evolved to grow, it will suit us best, because of the synergy in natural systems.

 

One example of that is the E Coli and bad fat in grain-finished beef vs. grass finished beef. There is quite a bit of evidence now that cows fed grain can grow, but their body chemistry is different enough from grass fed cows to be noticable in the resultant meat.

 

Also, when I was studying chemical engineering, it was generally known that chemists had about a 20 year shorter life expectancy than the general public. This was not attributable to any one thing, but rather to all of the many and chronic chemical exposures over the years, cummulatively.

 

(This is not true any longer, since implementation of better fume hoods, etc.)

 

I view the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers in the same way. It's a cummulative set of insults to people, and it has only been happening for about 50-60 years, so it amounts to a massive experiment with human subjects exposed to unnatural and toxic substances that they have not been historically. So if it does no harm, we are lucky--but we can't honestly say that we know for sure whether it does or not.

 

My path is a middle one. I buy fruit, veggies, and eggs from a CSA. I don't always buy organic meats, but a lot of the time I do. I can't find organic cheese that I like, or peanut butter, so I eat regular versions of those. I don't insist on only eating out at organic restaurants. But I do really push those organic items that come into our home, and gradually am eating more and more that way. I think that to get too doctrinaire about this just drives you to despair or self-righteousness, and neither are particularly productive.

[Blueridge]

Here is one:

http://ampm.hacres.com/index.php/tag/organic/

[Spy Car]

 

Also, when I was studying chemical engineering, it was generally known that chemists had about a 20 year shorter life expectancy than the general public. This was not attributable to any one thing, but rather to all of the many and chronic chemical exposures over the years, cummulatively.

 

(This is not true any longer, since implementation of better fume hoods, etc.)

 

I view the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers in the same way. It's a cummulative set of insults to people, and it has only been happening for about 50-60 years, so it amounts to a massive experiment with human subjects exposed to unnatural and toxic substances that they have not been historically. So if it does no harm, we are lucky--but we can't honestly say that we know for sure whether it does or not.

 

Total side-story, but when I was in high school I had an extremely eccentric (I thought "crazy") chemistry teacher. She was the sort who would walk around and have verbal conversations with herself. Not just "talking out loud" mind you, but actual "conversations" with head turning and questions and answers taking place when she was the only one there.

 

So one day when are mixing up unknown chemicals in the lab. They start putting off noxious fumes. I demand to know what chemicals we are dealing with. She says that that's the point of the lab.

 

"Yea, but I'm getting sick", says I.

"Listen young man I've been doing these experiments for more than twenty years and......."

 

With those words I exited the class, went straight to the School Counsellor's office and said I wanted to drop the class, and would take the final semester of Chem at another school over the summer. Which is exactly what I did :D

 

Play on!

 

Bill

[Roadrunner]

I can tell you the incidence of birth defects is extremely high among women working in the fields with chemicals. I have a friend who teaches in a public school in one of those communities and stories she tells are scary.

There is very little meat eaten in our household, but I make sure nothing in my house contains any antibiotics.

[Annabel Lee]

As for why it even matters, why we should avoid those chemicals, there are studies and documentaries done on amphibians who have to live in runoff water near non-organic crop fields and orchards. Frogs are being born with defects of increasing severity and frequency, with males turning into females, missing or extra limbs & heads. Scientists are finding the similar hormonal effects in humans, but it's just happening at a slower rate since we don't marinate ourselves in it 24/7. You'd be sickened to know what all the chemicals in our water table do to people. Pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides are just the tip of the iceberg.

[OrganicAnn]

Our family's organic fruits and vegetables are mainly from our garden or the farmer's market. I think they are better (more nutrients) than fruits and vegetables that grown using pesticides, are harvested green and riped in trucks/warehouses using gas. I don't have any studies to back that up, but when I grow it, I control what goes into my food. When I don't, I don't know if it is good or bad.

 

There are hundreds of studies saying that cigarettes are okay, but I never believed those studies. Then there were the TV ads that said that High Fructose Corn Syrup was really no different than sugar. Hmmm, yeah right. I would look at who is paying for the studies that say the organic foods are not any more nutritious than organic food.

[WishboneDawn]

I guess the question is, what is your concern with organic and non-organic food?

 

If it's nutrition that show you watched was likely correct. There's generally not much of a difference. I DO believe the science on this and think the habit of dismissing studies as a whole is disturbing.

 

BUT, if your concern is the chemicals used or the ethics of the larger scale farms, that's another issue entirely.

 

So I agree with the claim in the OP but would encourage anyone to explore the matter further.

 

We generally don't buy organic just to buy organic. We do increasingly make an effort to buy locally and ethically and that often means organic.