Is Organic Worth It?

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Screenshot from freshdirect.com – an organic
apple is 25 cents more expensive.

Eating all organic is expensive. It’s hard to justify the cost when you’re in the supermarket, looking at organic apples that look identical to the non-identical apples, except for the difference in price. Recently, someone brought this study by Stanford University to my attention, and said to me, “Why should I bother buying organic when it’s just as good for me to eat non-organic?” At first glance, it would seem that anyone buying and eating organic has been kidding themselves. The study suggests that non-organic food is no more nutritious than organic food. Their findings were reported widely through the general media – and who can blame the media? What a great headline! “Organic No Better!” “Conventional Just as Nutritious!” “Save Your Cash!”

Unfortunately, the results of this study are obvious, since the study defines ‘nutritional value’ as the amount of vitamins and minerals in the food, while pesticide residue and the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria are treated as an aside by the study’s authors. From the original article in the Annals of Internal Medicine (Sept. 4, 2012):


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.


Radishes & beans – organic
but not higher in vitamins
My haul from the
farmer’s market this week


Organic tomatoes at Greenmarket

I think the more important question that this media attention brought to organic food is, why do we choose organic in the first place? I felt like it was a given that you buy and eat and choose organic because it’s grown without the use of pesticides, or in the case of meat and dairy, you know there are no antibiotics used in the raising or feeding of the animals, which can be passed on to the food product. After discussing this with a few friends and clients, I realized that there are many reasons people choose organic, and yes, maybe some people believe organic can deliver a lot more than it actually does. For me personally, buying and eating organic is only about avoiding pesticides and antibiotics. It’s partially also for me to feel better from a humane standpoint about the animal products I eat. Even so, eating organic eggs and meat doesn’t necessarily mean a cruelty-free environment. Even ‘free-range’ eggs mean the chickens were not kept in tiny cages 24/7. They could be allowed out 30 minutes a day, and their eggs can be labelled ‘free-range’. Look for the word ‘pastured’ as well – it means no cages.

I wish I could tell you this
delicious, organic candy
is magically lower in
calories and fat than its
non-organic counterpart.
Sigh.


Organic food does not mean any difference in vitamins, calories, minerals, antioxidants, or nutrients. An organic tomato will have the same make-up of all of the above as a non-organic tomato. What it does not have is chemical pesticide residue. And who knows what that residue does to a human body in the long term? We don’t, because realistically our generation, and our parents’ generation are the test study for those effects.
Meanwhile, that Stanford study, which carries the weight of the reputation of the university, has been hotly contested amongst the scientific community. Most of the ire has been directed at the fact that pesticide residue and the exposure to antibiotic-resistant bacteria was glossed over as having an ‘unclear’ significance. Several critics also highlighted the financial support for the study, which included Cargill (which finances the university’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, the supporter of this research study). Cargill owns the Shadybrook Turkey and Honeysuckle White Turkey companies. Neither of those brands offer organic meats. Hmmm.

Saturday Farmer’s Market at
Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn
For me, it’s a conscious choice to try to limit the amount of chemicals in my food, just like I try to limit packaged food for less preservatives going into my body. Now that I have a child who is totally reliant on me for what goes into his body, I am even more aware of what I’m choosing to purchase. And I have to say, it’s become a really fun weekly outing to take my son to the farmer’s market in Brooklyn every Saturday to pick food for his weekly menu. It’s important to evaluate your reasoning behind choosing organic. It won’t help you lose weight, or eat less, or provide more vitamins. So if that’s your main reason for spending the extra money, by all means you should re-evaluate whether you want to continue buying organic. If nothing else, take the headlines with a pinch of salt – sometimes it’s important to remember that headlines could be created for selling papers, not providing knowledge.


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2 thoughts on “Is Organic Worth It?”

  1. Diana Palmentiero

    Thanks to your husband, Fran, for posting this on FB. I couldn’t agree more. I went through the same thought process when I had my kids. Why should they continue to be guinea pigs to the pesticides that we were exposed to? I feel that eating organic foods is a gift I can give to them.

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