Organic foods debunked

I thought everyone knew this. Organic is meaningless completely in the USA.

What I don't understand is why people want so badly to "debunk" organics. If I choose to buy organic on the chance that there is indeed some truth to the concept then why do others care? It's my money and I opt to spend a little more even if it is only eliminating a portion of the normally consumed pesticides. No one is forcing anyone to buy organic but those who don't seem almost cranky about the whole thing.
I don't buy blindly into every fad that comes along. I do my research and for every article posted that claims to debunk organics I can post one that refutes it. At least no one is knocking on your door or bombarding your email trying to convince you to spend money on organic, unlike those promoting the magic health and weight loss properties of Shakeology or Herbal Life.

Information is power. Once organics became a thing, the corporations lobbied and invented ways around the laws. It's just total bs. I don't care what anyone does, I just think its important to understand what it is.

The sad part of this is that there are actually true organic farmers out there. But, how do you know which is which. It's like giving money to a homeless person. You don't know if they're really homeless or not, so I just don't give any money to any of them.

About the only thing I could see buying organic for would be support local growers (always a cool thing to do) and to stick it to the man (also a pretty cool thing to do.)

I do really like the taste of organic milk. But that could just be that my taste buds are lazy.

I was going to join a CSA (community supported agriculture) but then I found out they washed their produce in their pond. Eww!

To each their own. I personally prefer organic when I can. Maybe it means nothing, but I will pay a little extra for the insurance, especially with all of the GMOS creeping in. I don't buy everything organic, but I certainly stick to the dirty dozen and grains. Plus, it really isn't that much expensive if you are vegetarian/vegan.

I work in the food industry and organic produce is a joke. Eat if if you want but you aren't getting what you think you're paying the extra money for.

Proof?

There is virtually no regulation on the whole industry and large corporations will pay the fines if they get caught in order to still be able to keep their big mark ups. It's not all sunshine and roses on an organic farm. If you want to be more educated check out the chemicals and additives that are allowed by the organic industry.

The review yielded scant evidence that conventional foods posed greater health risks than organic products. While researchers found that organic produce had a 30 percent lower risk of pesticide contamination than conventional fruits and vegetables, organic foods are not necessarily 100 percent free of pesticides. What’s more, as the researchers noted, the pesticide levels of all foods generally fell within the allowable safety limits. Two studies of children consuming organic and conventional diets did find lower levels of pesticide residues in the urine of children on organic diets, though the significance of these findings on child health is unclear. Additionally, organic chicken and pork appeared to reduce exposure to antibiotic-resistant bacteria, but the clinical significance of this is also unclear.

Lower levels of pesticides found in the urine of children......... hmmm might be a reason to keep eating orgainc and local when ever possible.


As for what the findings mean for consumers, the researchers said their aim is to educate people, not to discourage them from making organic purchases. “If you look beyond health effects, there are plenty of other reasons to buy organic instead of conventional,” noted Bravata. She listed taste preferences and concerns about the effects of conventional farming practices on the environment and animal welfare as some of the reasons people choose organic products.


“Our goal was to shed light on what the evidence is,” said Smith-Spangler. “This is information that people can use to make their own decisions based on their level of concern about pesticides, their budget and other considerations.”

She also said that people should aim for healthier diets overall. She emphasized the importance of eating of fruits and vegetables, “however they are grown,” noting that most Americans don’t consume the recommended amount.

In discussing limitations of their work, the researchers noted the heterogeneity of the studies they reviewed due to differences in testing methods; physical factors affecting the food, such as weather and soil type; and great variation among organic farming methods. With regard to the latter, there may be specific organic practices (for example, the way that manure fertilizer, a risk for bacterial contamination, is used and handled) that could yield a safer product of higher nutritional quality.

“What I learned is there’s a lot of variation between farming practices,” said Smith-Spangler. “It appears there are a lot of different factors that are important in predicting nutritional quality and harms.”

Other Stanford co-authors are Margaret Brandeau, PhD, the Coleman F. Fung Professor in the School of Engineering; medical students Grace Hunter, J. Clay Bavinger and Maren Pearson; research assistant Paul Eschbach; Vandana Sundaram, MPH, assistant director for research at CHP/PCOR; Hau Liu, MD, MBA, clinical assistant professor of medicine at Stanford and senior director at Castlight Health; Patricia Schirmer, MD, infectious disease physician with the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System; medical librarian Christopher Stave, MLS; and Ingram Olkin, PhD, professor emeritus of statistics and of education. The authors received no external funding for this study. <<<< Great but who financed the original studies??

I work in an organic grocery store and I took the classes and training to learn about organics and the procedure we must take when handling organics and although yes they are more expensive and yes they many not be any better than non-organic products. I still feel better buying them.

I'm lucky because I get an employee discount so I can afford it but I know a lot of people don't want to dish out the extra cash for apples and broccoli.

In the end, if you want to lose weight and need motivation to eat your fruits and veggies then buy organic.



Why?

Because they have no preservatives in them so you need to eat them quickly before they go bad

The fight between organic vs. non is such a miniscule health risk/benefit vs. overly processed and nutrient poor diets.

Eat whole foods, and feel good about it, organic or not.

but organic peppers taste better.. .as do bananas they are creamier and yummier... other than that.. umm ya i just buy local... i bought organic lettuce once and it was covered with dozens and dozens of little green worms that were moving around....

Once organics became a thing, the corporations lobbied and invented ways around the laws...The sad part of this is that there are actually true organic farmers out there. But, how do you know which is which. It's like giving money to a homeless person. You don't know if they're really homeless or not, so I just don't give any money to any of them.

So sad but true. Everything pure gets perverted by greed.
If you know the source (even better if it's local and you can personally fact check it) it's easier to trust the claims, but food labeling is so unreliable and dishonest, for the most part it's just a guessing game.

what my organic oreo cookies are not healthier and safer?!?! say it isn"t so (snicker)

I personally have always thought it better to buy locally than organically. That's just me.

I do still buy organic milk, eggs, and meat when I can.

This is the real answer. Organic is now big business, and suffers from the same problems that plague all big business. There are now huge farms involved, leading to shipping issues. Nutritionally, it is not any better for you. Local is the way to go. They can wait until things ripen more naturally because the aren't shipping it nationally.

The fight between organic vs. non is such a miniscule health risk/benefit vs. overly processed and nutrient poor diets.

Eat whole foods, and feel good about it, organic or not.

Pretty much agree with this post. I buy local as much as I can and even if the local stuff isn't certified "organic", a lot of times, it is organic. I know my farmers and have visited their farms. I also try to buy the dirty dozen organic whenever I can. We also buy organic milk (our kids eat a lot of cereal for breakfast).