Organic Food Not Nutritionally Better

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Wecandothis
Wecandothis Posts: 1,083 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I always thought that the people that preferred Organic Food over 'regular' did so because of the pesticides used on the 'regular' food. So I was not surprised by a study done by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine that states that Organic Food is not nutritionally superior to any other kind of food.

Does anyone believe that Organic Food has more nutritional value than 'regular' food?

Anyway the link to the original article I read is here:

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-science/20090729/SCIENCE-US-FOOD-ORGANIC/

The link to the published study is here:

http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/news/2009/organicfood.html

And the link to the School that did the study is here:

http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/

Replies

  • 08sweek
    08sweek Posts: 38 Member
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    The only reason I buy organic is to avoid the high impact pesticides are having on the environment. It is a plus that they are generally better for your health for these reasons. I've never assumed they are nutritionally "better" for you, although many people place unprocessed foods with organics, and unprocessed food is really better for you. :smile:
  • Wecandothis
    Wecandothis Posts: 1,083 Member
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    Yep, no chemicals is a HUGE bonus. But I never thought that organic carrots had more beta carotene than 'regular' ones. :-) So it seemed like a dumb study. :)
  • mello
    mello Posts: 817 Member
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    I never did think that organic food was nutritionally superior to foods that have been fed hormones, antibiotics or sprayed with a who knows what that is a chemical pesticide. I think this was a stupid study...it's pretty easy to figure out those are not going to alter the nutritional value, however, ingesting said hormone, antibiotic, chemical will cause all sorts of things like cancer, etc. This article actually aggrivated me when I read it this morning...morons.
  • mello
    mello Posts: 817 Member
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    Yep, no chemicals is a HUGE bonus. But I never thought that organic carrots had more beta carotene than 'regular' ones. :-) So it seemed like a dumb study. :)

    My thoughts exactly!!! Waste of money.....
  • hollychristine
    hollychristine Posts: 124 Member
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    I eat organic to cut out the chemicals. Its also better for the enviroment since some/all of those pesticides are not Earth friendly.
    I don't know why anyone would think they are nutritionally better, besides the lack of toxins....
  • meanness67
    meanness67 Posts: 366 Member
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    If you want some scary info on pesticides and how the environment affects your body, read "Master Your Metabolism" by Jillian Michaels. I am about half way through it and it is a great book. I'll be switching a lot of things in my life because of it.
  • XFitMojoMom
    XFitMojoMom Posts: 3,255 Member
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    If you want some scary info on pesticides and how the environment affects your body, read "Master Your Metabolism" by Jillian Michaels. I am about half way through it and it is a great book. I'll be switching a lot of things in my life because of it.

    Jill scared the sweet bejeesus out of me...!:wink:
    I'm trying to avoid the chemicals and the processed foods. I still would rather buy my produce from farmers markets than from the organic section at my grocery store. Most of the organic produce at my supermarket is already molding :sick:
  • BrendaLee
    BrendaLee Posts: 4,463 Member
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    If you want some scary info on pesticides and how the environment affects your body, read "Master Your Metabolism" by Jillian Michaels. I am about half way through it and it is a great book. I'll be switching a lot of things in my life because of it.

    Jill scared the sweet bejeesus out of me...!:wink:
    I'm trying to avoid the chemicals and the processed foods. I still would rather buy my produce from farmers markets than from the organic section at my grocery store. Most of the organic produce at my supermarket is already molding :sick:

    The organic produce at my local grocery stores is usually pretty nice. Strawberries are iffy sometimes. I stopped at a road side produce stand yesterday, because I thought it would be a nice place to pick up some organic produce, and they didn't have one organic product. I was shocked that local farmers are using chemical pesticides...I kind of always associated local with organic. I'm going to stop by the farmer's market some day, and see if I have better luck finding some organic produce.
  • nguill6
    nguill6 Posts: 133
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    I do organic to keep away from pesticides too. The only time the nutritional value will be different is with something that has been processed- like bread. Organic wheat bread will usually have more calories than 'regular' though. Not sure how all that works...
  • barbarella
    barbarella Posts: 609 Member
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    I didn't read the links but wonder who funded the study?

    Monsanto? Dow Chemicals? Some big corporation invested in making the chemicals or keeping people unhealthy (drug companies, AMA, HMOs etc.?), to increase their own profits? :grumble:

    The DJ on the radio this a.m. mentioned this report and figured it might cause an uproar here in Portland. He said don't shoot him, he's only the messenger!

    People everywhere are becoming more concerned about pesticide exposure, environmental impact, supporting local sustainable farming etc. etc. Hopefully people will THINK about this and not just assume nutritional value is the only issue here.

    Thanks for posting! :drinker: :flowerforyou:
  • mrd232
    mrd232 Posts: 331
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    I didn't read the links but wonder who funded the study?

    Monsanto? Dow Chemicals? Some big corporation invested in making the chemicals or keeping people unhealthy (drug companies, AMA, HMOs etc.?), to increase their own profits? :grumble:

    The DJ on the radio this a.m. mentioned this report and figured it might cause an uproar here in Portland. He said don't shoot him, he's only the messenger!

    People everywhere are becoming more concerned about pesticide exposure, environmental impact, supporting local sustainable farming etc. etc. Hopefully people will THINK about this and not just assume nutritional value is the only issue here.

    Thanks for posting! :drinker: :flowerforyou:

    On a side note, I hate Monsanto, agricultural subsidies, slick government intervention, and the FDA. Not only do they influence consumers but they alter and influence supposed "health" and "wellness" organizations promoting heart health and cancer research.

    I buy organic and local to reduce my exposure to pesticides. I've witnessed a number of farmers develop absolutely terrible asthma and debilitating conditions as adults from a life of pesticide exposure. And this is the "answer" to hunger according to "Big Agra"? Ugh...what a nightmare.

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