Is Organic Food Healthier?
Organic foods are everywhere these days. About 70% of Americans buy organic food occasionally, and 25% buy it weekly, according to the Hartman Group.
Buying organic can be more expensive, and organic food is typically marketed to be healthier. Most skeptics say that there’s no difference between organic and conventional food – that it’s just a ploy to extract more money out of consumers.
Is that true? Is organic food healthier?
The answer is: it depends on the type of food you’re eating. For example, if you’re choosing between an organic granola bar or a non-organic apple – which is healthier?
It’s the conventional apple. That’s because the organic granola bar can still have a lot of sugar and refined grains vs. an apple. But if you’re choosing between a non-organic apple and an organic apple, the organic apple is likely the better choice. Why is that?
There are 3 reasons to choose organic:
1) Avoidance of some pesticides
2) Environmental health
3) Less processed ingredients
On pesticides: Studies published in leading peer-reviewed journals have shown that families who consume an organic diet have 90% lower levels of pesticides in their bodies than families who consistently consume ‘conventional’ pesticide-treated foods. While many experts maintain that the levels in conventional food are safe for most healthy adults, even low-level pesticide exposure can be significantly more toxic for fetuses, children, and pregnant women according to a report by the National Academy of Sciences.
One thing to note is that organic farms do use pesticides. The difference is that they use what are called naturally-derived pesticides, rather than the synthetic pesticides used on conventional commercial farms. Natural pesticides are believed to be less toxic, but they are still pesticides, and often farmers need to use more applications of these types of pesticides for them to be as effective. Overall, your exposure to harmful pesticides is likely to be lower when eating organic.
On the environment, organic farming reduces groundwater pollution and the amount of pesticides that can end up in your tap water according to the EWG.
On ingredients: Packaged foods that have the USDA Organic seal generally have no artificial, highly processed ingredients (e.g. artificial colors, preservatives, etc.) Not all organic packaged foods follow this practice, but most do. In the granola bar example, I’d always choose an organic granola bar or an organic cookie over a conventional one.
So, this begs the question: When should you buy organic food? Since organic food can be pricey, I recommend prioritizing foods on the Dirty Dozen list, as well as a few others not on the list. These foods have the highest amount of pesticides and if you can afford it, going organic is a better option for: Apples, Cherries, Grapes, Nectarines, Peaches, Pears, Raspberries, Strawberries, Bell Peppers, Celery, Potatoes, Spinach. Dairy, farmed salmon, poultry, and meat are also recommended to buy organic if possible.
There is a similar list called the “Clean Fifteen” – which is a list of produce that is less likely to be contaminated with pesticides, and therefore can be deprioritized for organic purchases.
The bottom line is this: When clients ask me about whether they should switch to buying all (or mostly) organic foods, I tell them to prioritize the dirty dozen and the additional foods listed above, and then to buy organic whenever possible and when they can afford it. It absolutely can’t hurt and will likely help on your way to a cleaner and healthier diet.
To learn more about Anjali Shah and her work on healthy living, visit https://pickyeaterblog.com.
Other Sources:
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2011/06/18/137249264/organic-pesticides-not-an-oxymoron
Last spring he told my husband that he had changed to another product, but we could not eat the fruit for seven days. We had a family of five rabbits living in our yard. A couple of days later, our neighbor found two of them dead in his yard. I also had some neurological problems that we attributed to my use of the medication, Gabapentin, so I discontinued that, but my dizziness and coordination problems continued. I slowly improved.
The sprayer called again in the fall and sprayed the yard again. Two days later, our neighbor had two more dead bunnies in his yard. A week later, we smelled something rotting in our blackberry patch and found a dead opposum! Myneurological problems returned for several weeks. Needless to say, we are done spraying.
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