Are organically grown fruits and vegetables more nutritious than their counterparts? Peter Tompkins, the author of The Secret Life of Plants, believes this to be the case. He maintains the value of a plant cannot be ascertained by simply measuring the quantities of its constituents, (e.g. NPK) that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The consumption of healthy organic plants translates into healthier lives. He makes a compelling case. What is also interesting is the book was written in 1973 and it is only in recent years that people have become more aware of the potential benefits of organically grown food.
my personal feelings are not necessarily measurable in the NPK sense of the ratings rather in the lack of the other measured or unmeasured listings, toxic constitutents for instance. "nutrient" levels may be unchanged from non organic source but... other "ingredients / toxins" may be less present due to cultural factors.
I grew up with magazines of Rodale's Organic Gardening around the house (well, it was only 15-20 years ago...). Also, I currently use a biweekly organic food delivery service, so 80-90% of the vegetables I consume and 70-80% of the fresh fruit I consume are organic. Keeping that in mind, I have to say I'm skeptical of claims that organic food is inherently more nutritious than food grown with agroindustrial processes. I'm open to the idea, of course, but I'd like to see the evidence. Here's a paper from Australian Skeptics (PDF): http://www.skeptics.com.au/journal/2003/4_natural.pdf So, if I'm skeptical about the difference in nutritional value between organic and agroindustrial foods, why the preference for organic? How much energy does it take for a carrot sown from seed to find its way to my plate? At a minimum, an organically-grown carrot uses no petrochemicals to extract / process / transport fertilizers (except perhaps organic manure) and no petrochemicals to process / transport / apply pesticides. There are also fewer environmental and human costs (e.g., increased health issues from pesticide use). The organic food delivery service I use also does its best to source locally. In fact, they attach with each receipt a printout of how many "food - kilometres" were saved with the order, i.e., had we bought the equivalent foods at the supermarket, our food would have been transported a total of 3000km, but by using local organic growers, it instead only travelled 1700km. Ideally, I'd have a garden and grow my own organically, as that it is food production at its least cost to the rest of the world - essentially zero transportation costs and the only energy input is free as in "sunlight" and my own labour (which should balance out with the energy from the food). Gardening is a political act!
No doubt. Tompkins makes the point that the use of petrochemicals creates a dependency whereby ever increasing amounts of fertilizers and pesticides are required to sustain yields. What is equally disturbing is the need to use genetically engineered seeds to solve problems created by the use of petrochemicals. The idea of one or two corporations owning the patents to our food supply is alarming. When one looks at the big picture it only makes sense to shift to more environmentally friendly and sustainable farming practices. As a taste test I tried three organic items this week: bananas, Silken apples, and romaine lettuce. All three, perhaps by coincidence, had better flavor than usual. The lettuce was the crispiest I've ever had. Maybe it came from a local supplier and thus would be fresher than ones shipped from the States. Based on this experience I would continue to sample organic selections even though they are more expensive. Tompkins' book provides much food for thought. It must have been popular at one time or another as there were many copies available at the library. I recommend it. How does the cost (dollar-wise) compare with that at the supermarket or produce store?
In terms of dollars, it likely costs double. Of course, I don't have to drive, so there's a small savings there. I've attached a screenshot of our order for Thursday (casual readers please note - Canadian dollars).
Plus savings in actual shopping time. My experience with a leaf lettuce this week was the same as with the romaine - better taste and texture. I think a good compromise is to go organic for produce that's consumed uncooked (as in salads). Hopefully the cooking process (such as boiling) will remove or at least dilute any toxins that are on regular produce. Consider me a partial convert to organic.
Junglekeeper (and others), you might be interested in this: When buying organic pays (and doesn't) from Consumer Reports Feb '06.
Thanks for the article link, Daniel. I would add two thoughts- if you buy products (in the U.S.) that contain soy or corn that are not organic, then it is likely that the soy or corn are genetically modified products. The second- if being environmentally friendly is your main goal when buying organic, it causes less environmental damage to buy LOCAL, conventionally grown produce, than to buy organic produce that has to travel thousands of miles to reach you. Of course, if you can, the best is to support your local, organic producers.
As far as fresh produce is concerned a lot matters on where the produce is coming from. Will a head of lettuce grown in Salinas, California, have the same amount of pesticide residue as the same head of lettuce will have grown in a greenhouse in New York or perhaps in the ground in Texas? Also, state requirements for certified organic foods can differ from state to state here in the US. I am not sure where some of you are getting your information from on what is organic and what isn't. Some people consider the petrochemical aspects to be the most harmful to us but no one is talking about organic growers using solid animal wastes as a primary means for fertilizing their organic crops and the possible health ramifications that may or can come about from our eating those foods. Do we really know the chemistry of either or are we more inclined to believe the published reports from an array of medical journals that can lay the foundation that even pure water can be a carcinogen under the right circumstances. None of our everyday produce and edible crops grown in this state has been genetically modified or engineered. Where we may get into a little trouble is in the use of Soy oil in salad dressings or Cotton oil (vegetable oil) from modified seed to ward off the effects of herbicide usage but even the Soy and Cotton oils that are known to have been genetically engineered are banned for human consumption in this state. Yet, an organic Chicken grower or Egg producer or a Free range wooly-bird Turkey grower can use a Cotton seed meal as a feed supplement that may indeed have some ground and mashed up genetically modified Cotton seed in the Poultry feed and still retain their organic status. When we go organic and are steadfast about it, let's be a little more certain where our fruits, meat and vegetables are coming from as when we mix in store bought Bananas, out of season Table Grapes and Citrus from Asia and other countries we might as well throw our organic want list right out the window as we end up defeating our whole purpose of certifying ourselves as being organic consumers only. I guess none of you ever dine out and of course that cannot be much of a concern to us organic purists either, can it? Are organically grown fruits and vegetables more nutritious than their counterparts? All things being equal the nutrition factor is about the same. I think Mr. Tompkins is confusing what is an overall nutrition factor with a pleasure factor. Then there is a freshness factor as well a ripening factor to work into the overall nutritional index or rating. If we feel better about eating an organic Apple then the Apple has to be more nutritious than one most growers produce for the grocery stores. Not necessarily, as now we've just incorporated into the nutrition equation a individual pleasure factor or a psychology to be counted into the mix as an overall nutritional rating. One can be measured but the other may not be from person to person. I may like the sweetness and the texture of the organic Apple I just ate but the store bought Apple of the same variety may not be fully ripe. Would those two Apples have the same nutritional rating? I doubt it. Jim
These are my last words on this subject. I know no one will like what I wrote in the last post but a part of me says that is too bad. I do not tolerate duplicity well. I certainly am not advocating the desire for us to go out and buy pesticide laden foods but I am saying that our produce for the most part is not nearly as unsafe as published reports have led others to believe. I've dealt with politicians coming after me for years with reports from this newspaper or that one stating how unsafe foods were in New York and other cities and then I'd have to come back with that what was found in New York produce does not apply to California. Fruits laden with banned pesticides in California were found in other states so that our fruits here had to be just as polluted was the dour argument the challenged among our elected officials used to come at me with. Not many people have the guts to tell them, sometimes step on them hard, not of our own accord but to stand up for those people we know that are not guilty of doing such things. If given a choice I'd be like most any concerned person in that I'd buy organic when I could also but I'd be a little careful not to buy organic fruits and vegetables that were produced in concert with animal wastes. It is not like I have not seen people tell others to use animal wastes in this forum for edible food and I cringe every time as I'd rather eat pesticide residues rather than risk a possible bacterium that can kill me or a loved one. Who says we have to eat tainted meat to get Mad Cow? Are we sure we cannot also attract it from using animal waste as our fertilizer for our fruits and vegetables? Can you think of an easier way to, other than a transmission by a mosquito, get a bird flu influenza to spread other than eating tainted Poultry? What happens when a fly lands on some tainted waste and then the next thing we know that fly is sitting pretty on my homegrown Rio Oso Peach in my bowl of muselix? If it makes us feel better to supply what we feel is a relative clean and nutritious food or meal for us and our families then we made a wise choice as us and them should gain from it rather than be hurt from it from a health standpoint. It is precisely for this reason why organic foods have become popular as they make us feel good to know we have done our part to protect our loved ones and us. Who in their right mind is going to argue with that? Still, we have to be a little more careful with processed and prepared foods as therein may be our biggest bugaboo in that we do not know what all is in that bottle of salad dressing for our organic endive, raddichio and arrugula salad or in the mayonnaise we like to use for our organic beef hamburger on a toasted honey oat bun. I applaud what Daniel is doing. I think it is great but where we run into trouble is with the people that have tunnel vision about such things and want to instill their personal views onto others. The they are right and every non conformist is wrong kind of people. They are the ones I want to shut up as I'll point out areas of where they are eating pesticide tainted processed and perhaps prepared foods now of which several of those pesticides are banned in this state for California farmers and growers to use on their specialty and other crops. I have a long term good friend that is a certified organic lettuce grower and what she has to go through for certification in this state far exceeds what those same certification standards would be anywhere else. You bet, when I see her butter lettuce in the grocery store near me, I'll buy it in heartbeat. Jim
