Is Organic a healthier choice?
Organic foods are often shrouded with the magical ‘health halo’ which can mislead consumers to thinking that they are making healthier choices, purely due to how a food item is labelled.
The market is currently flooded with healthier alternatives to common junk foods, such as cookies, chips, ice creams and more, yet these items are still highly calorific and palatable, which just like your non ‘healthy’ counterparts can be easily over consumed leading to an excessive calorie surpluses.
What does organic actually mean?
Organic foods must adhere to specific regulatory standards, such as being grown without synthetic pesticides, irradiation and no synthetic pesticides. Animals have to eat organic feed and spend a large percentage of their time free of confinement, they too need to be raised without antibiotics and synthetic growth hormones.
The cost of organic produce is often noticeable higher, as much as 10-50% higher than their conventional counterparts.
So is it worth the extra cash?
There is no scientific evidence to suggest that organic foods have a nutritional advantage over non organic foods. Whilst they have fewer synthetic pesticides and are free of hormones and antibiotics they are nearly always matched for macro and micro nutrients.
But, there is MUCH more to consider…
Evidence is lacking when it comes to advising whether the lack of hormones and antibiotics in organic animal produce makes them a healthier choice, but a 2012 study looking at the link between antibiotic resistance and human/animal health suggests that we should be addressing ways to reduce the number of antibiotics given to animals to avoid this very issue and that more research is needed.
In addition to this, a 2010 study found a close correlation between ADHD and the amount of a particular pesticide found in children’s urine. It was concluded that children with any detectable level of pesticide in their urine were twice as likely to have symptoms of learning disorders opposed to children with undetectable levels. Further, prenatal exposure to pesticides can harm children's brain formation and lead to lower I.Q.s.
So if there is no nutritional value but there might be some important health benefits, what is right thing to do?
Doing the right thing for yourself and the health of your family isn’t always as simple as deciding to only buy organic; there are economic boundaries to consider which can make choosing this option impossible. What you can do is choose your produce carefully and not be pulled into clever marketing. Certain produce has more levels of pesticides than others, and each year a list of the foods that rank from the highest to the lowest in pesticide use is released; this is a great place to start if you’re concerned with knowing what is worth the higher price tag. Secondly, wash your produce thoroughly and with care, this goes along way with fruits and vegetables. Lastly, we could all do with eating a little less animal produce, so if we were to reduce our meat consumption then we could potentially be able to afford better quality by eating smaller portions.