Posted on 09/04/2012 6:17:06 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Organic food 'not any healthier'
Eating organic food will not make you healthier, according to researchers at Stanford University, although it could cut your exposure to pesticides.
They looked at more than 200 studies of the content and associated health gains of organic and non-organic foods.
Overall, there was no discernable difference between the nutritional content, although the organic food was 30% less likely to contain pesticides.
Critics say the work is inconclusive and call for more studies.
The research, published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, looked at 17 studies comparing people who ate organic with those who did not and 223 studies that compared the levels of nutrients, bacteria, fungus or pesticides in various foods - including fruits, vegetables, grains, meats, milk and eggs.
None of the human studies ran for longer than two years, making conclusions about long-term outcomes impossible. And all of the available evidence was relatively weak and highly variable - which the authors say is unsurprising because of all the different variables, like weather and soil type, involved.
Fruit and vegetables contained similar amounts of vitamins, and milk the same amount of protein and fat - although a few studies suggested organic milk contained more omega-3.
Organic foods did contain more nitrogen, but the researchers say this is probably due to differences in fertiliser use and ripeness at harvest and is unlikely to provide any health benefit.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
“30% less likely to contain pesticides.”
I wonder if it’s only 30% because some pesticide blows over from neighboring non-organic farms when they are sprayed.
Also, some non-organic items contain little or no pesticides, anyway, so the difference between organic and non-organic on those foods would be small.
I can’t resist... Jewish mysticism describes the “Downchaining of worlds...” Basically, trying to bridge the gap between all-powerful, infinite G-d...and lowly, physical planet/inhabitants. It’s also known as Kabbala.
THE POINT: that a lower level comes from the “waste” of the upper level. And the statement in this discipline is literlly that physicality comes from the “excrement” of angels. In fact, a Russian chassidic desciple came to New York City in the early 20th century, saw the skyscrapers and said, “The angels really crapped big here...”
I just had to relate the story. Oh, and I eat mostly organic, by virtue of Mrs Phinneous. I tend to believe anecdotally in what the proponents of organic say...while she reads up about the studies on it. Our kids seem, thank G-d, very healthy in terms of lack of ear infections, colds, etc. Is this a crack in my ultra-right-wing armor?
ya ...yum..
A woman who has property near our ranch decided she was going to raise grass fed organic beef cattle and use absolutely no chemicals, no fertilizer or weed killer on her pastures or vaccines for the animals.
Her project did not survive. Her pasture had no grass, her animals got sick and many died. Maybe there is a place in the country with no pests where this could be done but the Texas Gulf Coast is not that place.
So...are these evil pesticides/fertilizers inorganic...or organic, made from petrochemicals?
You mean there are people who think the food has more nutrients?
Eating organic food will not make you healthier, according to researchers at Stanford University, although it could cut your exposure to pesticides.Doh! Cutting exposure to pesticides makes one healthier. If you're not all that "toxic" to begin with, you may do just fine with crops not organically produced, but if you do have health issues, it's the first place to make a changeover (if you can afford it). Been there, done that. Eating organically produced foods can help one's overall health a great deal.
I’m retired an do the cooking. It’s a hobby. My wife is driving me crazy. She jumped on the organic bandwagon a while back and it’s cramping my style.
She thinks organic eggs have to be brown. I told her that those eggs are brown because they’re laid by red chickens. She doesn’t believe me. She says they are better because of less pesticides in their diet. I agreed but reminded her that the chickens run around eating bugs and worms. That didn’t please her much. lol
Other than that, she’s a God-fearing, Tea Party conservative.
And I haven't used pesticides or chemical fertilizers in 20 years, and try to feed my family organic when possible. And as far as not using pesticides, this guy has much info. Howard Garrett's Page
Or at least not non-white chickens (racist).
I have brown eggs, tan eggs, BLUE eggs and white eggs. Ask her to explain the blue eggs.
This article is not good for the American Farmer, many of whom have figured out how to separate the consumer from vast amounts of money for these low yield, low quality foods.
In short, many of them are getting wealthy on the ignorance of the food consumers.
Myself, I stay with inorganic foods, eating organic when there is no other choice.
Your post is fine, but it points up the extent to which the language has been completely destroyed by the left. Read the sentence below, and tell me that we need to send liberals off to their own island:
“Myself, I stay with inorganic foods, eating organic when there is no other choice.”
Food derived from plants is by definition, organic. Granite, which is derived from something other than plants or animals. All crop food, all meat is by definition organic. Inorganic food implies something like a plastic banana.
I propose that any food grown without any enabling agricultural technology be hereforth called ‘accidental’. If that doesn’t catch, you can call it, ‘idiot food’, as in food grown by accident meant for idiots who will pay more for a product that is generally inferior or equal to the food grown using enabling farming technologies.
GM food is GM food, and that makes sense. Food grown without pesticides or any other enabling means of boosting crop yield or minimizing pest damage is still organic, it just means farmers aren’t tying their hands behind their backs to produce it.
I use ‘I eat primarily inorganic food’ with a bit of mockery in my voice.
Your idea of idiot food is better, more accurate, but I think it requires too much explanation. Same with ‘accidental food’, though I might try it a bit, ‘cuz it sounds like a guy could have some fun with that one.
Kind of like the Red State/Blue State thing.
I’m optimistic about all that though. Things are moving our way, and in the political sense, at an amazing speed.
We’ll get our language back, including ‘organic’ and Blue State being a good thing.
Actually, no
GM and organic foods both have been bred for disease resistance; that is, the toxins that are required to deter pests are part of the flesh of the vegetable and fruit, and cannot be washed off like pesticides.
Bruce Ames published papers on this back in the 80’s and 90’s (cf “Dietary pesticides (99.99% all natural)*” -
http://www.pnas.org/content/87/19/7777.full.pdf)
The study you linked to details the level of a plant’s natural immune system, not GM food.
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