Tom Sanders Says Organic is No Better

"LONDON: If you are spending extra bucks on ‘organic food’ thinking that it is healthier than the ordinary foods, there are chances that you’re being taken for a ride, for according to researchers there is not much of a difference between the two.

According to researchers there is little evidence that an organic diet provides greater nutritional benefits or that non-organic crops grown using pesticides and chemical fertilizers are more harmful than their organic competitors.

Tom Sanders, the professor of nutrition and dietetics at Kings College London, claimed that organic food has no higher nutritional value compared to conventional food."

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Can Organic Food REALLY Feed the World?

"Recent studies have re-visited the idea that organic methods of agriculture would be sufficient to feed the world – but they are flawed because of naïveté about agriculture in developing nations.

Can organic food feed the world? A recent study, published in the journal Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems provides new data that suggests it can. However, I have some grave reservations about this prospect that are based on my experience as a scientist and my time living and working with real farmers in developing nations."

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Not Much Evidence

"DO you ever buy organic food?" I asked my wife. She quickly answered, "No". Then I asked, "Why do some people buy it?" She replied what most people say, "Because it's free of pesticides".

But is this true? And with increasing food prices, is it prudent to spend hard-earned dollars on organic farm products?

A report in the Nutrition Action Health Letter provides much more insight about organic foods. It states that a Neilsen study showed 34 per cent of Canadians purchased organic foods to avoid pesticides and artificial fertilizers. Others in the study believed these products were more nutritious than conventional foods.

The problem is, there is little data on the risks associated with eating fruits and vegetables that contain pesticide residues. For instance, this morning I had a fresh peach with bran cereal, a breakfast I've always considered to be a healthy one. But then I discovered Nutrition Action's list of the top "dirty dozen" fruits and vegetables that contain pesticide residues."

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400 Scientific Papers Saying Organic Isn't Better

"A superb article in the Australian popular science magazine Cosmos debunks the organic food and farming craze. On claims that organic is more nutritious, the article notes:

A comprehensive review of some 400 scientific papers on the health impacts of organic foods, published by Faidon Magkos and colleagues in 2006 in the journal Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, concluded there was no evidence that eating organic food was healthier.

Even if it can't be proved that eating organic is healthier, advocates claim it is nutritionally superior. Some studies, especially those reported by the organic farming advocate group, the British Soil Association, show that organic produce has a higher content of vitamin C, minerals and anti-oxidants such as flavonols, polyphenols, lycopene and resveratrol."

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"Unproven Benefits" of Organic Food

"SHOPPERS are paying up to three times more for the unproven benefits of organic food, consumer regulator, Choice, says.

More research was required to determine if organic food was nutritionally better, Choice said.

Retailers, however, argue organic food has passed the test of consumers, who pay more for believing it has better taste, no chemical residue and is healthier than non-organic food.

Choice spokesman Christopher Zinn said the regulator supported the development of a domestic standard and enforcement framework for organic goods. "Until this standard is introduced, buying properly certified organic produce should ensure you're getting what you pay for," Mr Zinn said.

Among Choice's value picks for organic food were tomatoes, apples and chickens but organic carrots and eggs did not rate as well."

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Pricer? Oh, Really?

"It's a seven-letter word you'll see in nearly every grocery store: organic.

Many people want to know what the word really means and wonder if there are any benefits in buying the natural foods.

..We went to a local grocery store to compare the price of organic and conventionally grown foods. At Publix we found a gallon of the store brand milk for $3.99 while a gallon of the store brand organic milk was $4.99."

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I'm getting tired of articles like this. In my opinion, the quality of food is much more important than quantity.

Review Says Organic is No Better

"The overall body of science does not support the view that organic food is more nutritious than conventionally grown food, says a new review from the British Nutrition Foundation.

The review, published in the journal Nutrition Bulletin and authored by the BNF's Claire Williamson, could re-ignite the debate between conventional and organic fruit that has raged with claim and counter-claim from both sides."

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Newsweek and Organic Propaganda?

"Part of a regular web-only health-centric column, "Tip of the Week," Newsweek ran a June 14 piece written by Ruth Olsen, called “How to shop for organic foods without breaking your budget,” that hit many of the usual myths and wishful thinking about organic foods, such as, organic foods taste better than conventional foods (which are labeled “nonorganic” in the article, implying they deviate from the norm and are somehow lacking), organic produce lasts as long as conventional and organics can be comparable price-wise to regular produce in supermarkets (emphasis mine throughout):

If you do manage to get more organic into your diet, you won't regret the extra effort. Organic produce isn’t just healthy and better for the environment, it tastes better, too, according to Charles Benbrook, chief scientist for The Organic Center. And that flavor boost might just make it easier to convince your children to eat their veggies, or to introduce them to new foods."

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The Darkside of Organic

"Organic food remained on the fringe until the nineties when the “Alar scare” over a possible carcinogen used on apples led many consumers to seek out organic foods. This represented a much larger market: those more concerned about personal health than planetary health. This inevitably drew in large corporations as they realized the organic market was growing up to 20 percent a year.

Food writer Michael Pollan popularized the term “organic-industrial complex” to describe practices such as packing thousands of cattle into factory farms to produce “organic” milk and growing “organic” lettuce on 1,000-acre farms.

..Increasingly, organic produce is being shipped thousands of miles from Mexico, Central America — and possibly China in the future — as the Wal-Martization of organic food takes hold, pressuring prices and health, safety and labor standards downward. And it means adding to global warming by relying on a petro-economy to grow, process and transport organic food from around the world.

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GM Crops are Safer than Organic?

"In a short "Facts & Fears" article, the American Council on Science and Health suggests that Bt corn and other GM crops could be safer than organic ones.

Authors L. Andrew Staehelin (University of Colorado) and David A. Christopher (University of Hawaii) state that organic foods are often presented to consumers as representing the ultimate standard in food safety and healthfulness, an image which is used to justify premium prices.

They also suggest that the organics industry campaigns against GM crops on the basis that they are unnatural creations of technology which are bad for health and the environment.

Citing a number of studies published in peer-reviewed journals, Staehelin and Christopher say such claims have little merit and that in many ways, GM crops are safer than organic ones.

For instance, Bt corn resists insect infestation and contains, on average, far lower levels of carcinogenic mycotoxins than non-GM varieties grown by organic farmers."

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