The Organic vs. Non-Organic Debate

There’s a hot topic right now: that study on Organic vs. Non-Organic foods. This meta-study out of Stanford University found that there is “no significant health benefit to organic food.”

Um, I don’t really think that was the issue, so don’t latch onto that.

The study also found that organic produce has a 30% lower risk of pesticide residue than conventional produce. Ah, there’s the issue.

Here are the facts:

Our soil is depleted across the board, so our produce is not nearly as nutrient dense as it used to be. And that same food is transported thousands of miles to our grocery stores, further losing its nutritional value because it is picked before it ripens, leaving it to ripen on the truck for two weeks. Vine-ripened tomatoes? Hardly. But “truck-ripened tomatoes” probably wouldn’t sell. So by the time it gets to your refrigerator, it’s pretty old stuff, and if you don’t get to it for a few more days, well, then it’s really old stuff.

So organic or conventional, that’s the state of affairs. And it sucks.

But the difference is that conventional produce has more pesticides and meat has antibiotics, hormones, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. And all these chemicals are hormone disrupters. They’re linked to cancers. And they’re extremely harmful to developing children both in and out of the womb.

So that being said, if you are a mom-to-be or a woman contemplating pregnancy, it’s best to keep these chemicals out of your system, in order to keep it out of your growing child’s system. And if you’re already a mom, it’s best to feed your children cleaner produce. Youngsters can’t process these toxins as well as adults can. And with cancer rates skyrocketing, I’d say adults aren’t processing the toxins very well, either.

And if your immune system is compromised for any reason, you don’t want those chemicals. A weakened system will be more vulnerable to these toxins.

And if you’re a person concerned about the health of the farm workers who are regularly exposed to these chemicals, you probably want to opt for organic, too.

Oh and if you’re a person who doesn’t want the makers of Agent Orange (Monsanto – also known as the wizards behind Genetically Modified Crap) spraying their magic juice on your food, then organic’s for you, too.

That’s what we do to our food. Does that look appetizing to you? Not to me.

So, in summary, the issue isn’t really the nutrition. It’s the chemicals.

Lastly, this study followed participants for two years or less. That’s hardly enough time to establish the long-term effects of pesticides on our health.

But common sense says that the fog in that picture doesn’t belong in our bodies. Why else would he be wearing a gas mask?

For more on this, you can read CNN’s article, NPR’s summary or Michael Pollan’s response to these findings.