To Go Organic Or Not?

This is an interesting topic which is heavily debated and scrutinized.

Having the entire world fed an wholly organic diet would be amazing in terms of pesticides since organic foods were found to have 30% lower pesticide residues than conventional foods.Significantly lower urinary pesticide levels were found in organic consumers. But levels in both organic and nonorganic foods were within allowable safety limits. Organic chicken was also about a third less likely to contain antibiotic resistant bacteria than conventionally raised chicken. Please don’t get worried seeing the figure 30% because you need to keep in mind that this is an extremely weak amount / like the lowest of the lowest amount of pesticide content possible. The pesticides that are making it into your body is hundreds if not thousands of times lower than any known factor that would cause harm.

But then you think, what if there is a buildup to this intake over many years? Research may never show because buildup may take up to say 50 years? What do I do? Should I go organic?

Having the entire world fed an wholly organic diet would be amazing though not realistically possible – ever growing world population and interlinked factors in itself are barriers. Here it is important to say about studies that examined clinical outcomes of eczema, wheeze, atopic sensitization or symptomatic Campylobacter infection found no significant difference between those that had organic or non-organic foods. There was also no significant differences in biomarkers or nutrient levels in serum, urine, breast milk and semen in adults. Also the bacteria that cause food poisoning were equally present in both types of foods. So it really becomes a personal choice which you would base around multiple factors like financial capability, your priorities on where your money needs to be budgeted (not everyone with money may want to spent on pricey organic food, they would rather get that flashy car..just saying :-) ) easy access to organic foods amongst others.

If someone were to try and go organic but couldn’t commit to a fully organic diet, are there any food types that are more important to be organic that you would recommend they start with? I would definitely recommend the below

The Dirty dozen (Buy these organic) – celery, peach, strawberries, apples, blueberries, nectarines, bell peppers, spinach, cherries, kale / collard, potatoes, grapes.

The Clean 15 (Lowest in pesticides) – onions, avocado, sweetcorn, pineapple, mangoes, sweet potatoes, asparagus, kiwi, cabbage, eggplant, cantaloupe, watermelon, grapefruit, sweet potato, honeydew melon.

Few things which I have briefed out :

Myth -Organic food is safer and healthier. Where did this come from? Food companies and marketing (No brainer of course! That’s how economies work I guess)

What gives it credence ? Studies that show lower levels of pesticides in organic food vs non-organic

Research to refute it – There is no evidence to suggest that organic contains more nutrients and lack of evidence of a negative effect.

Conclusion – The health & nutritional benefits of organic are hugely overplayed! It really is a personal choice.

References : Mac-Nutrition Uni ; Smith-Sprangler et al.(2012) ; Dangour et al.(2010)