Organic food. Nutritionally better or not?

Fresh organic vegetables on a table close up

We notice that the recent study by Stanford University, questions whether organic food is better than conventional food, concluding there are no health benefits from organic food. When it comes to baby food, we don’t like to take chances with pesticide nasties.

Now, we’d be the first to say, and we have many times, that studies show mixed results when it comes to increased levels of nutrients in organic food, but that’s not the same as “no health benefits”. As SBS reported it on their site: “They little significant difference in health benefits between organic and conventional foods”. (Their mistake).

Health benefits

But how should we define health benefits?

The primary goal of organic agriculture is to optimise the health and productivity of interdependent communities of soil life, plants, animals and people. Ultimately providing better nutrition.

We can think of three aspects of organic food that one might consider when deciding to buy, irrespective on any ecological benefits. These include:

• Nutritional benefits
• Taste benefits
• Reduced pesticide and other contamination benefits

Let’s just assume that Stanford is correct and the nutritional delivery is identical. What about the taste comparison of organically farmed produce versus conventional foods? Like us, plants are what they consume so it stands to reason that what they “suck up” must play a role in flavour. Personally, I know I’d rather have a tomato grown under a cloche in the garden of an old Italian living in Merrylands than a tasteless hydroponic colossus flown in from The Netherlands. And this is the mentality we have with our baby food.

But for argument’s sake, let’s say there’s no difference here either.

So what about pesticides then? Well, amazingly, tucked away in the Stanford research findings was this little gem: “The study did however find that organic produce is 30% less likely to be contaminated with pesticides than conventional fruits and vegetables”. That appears to be of no consequence to, and play no part in, “health benefits” apparently! Presumably the rationale is that because the levels are below those prescribed it’s all OK. And for adults, maybe it is. But consider this, also from the US:

Pregnancy

Charles Benbrook, who worked as the chief scientist for the Organic Center before moving to Washington State University last month, said the benefits of organic food, in terms of pesticide exposure, would be greatest for pregnant women, for young children and for older people with chronic health problems. He cites research that looked at blood pesticide levels of pregnant women and then followed their children for several years. The studies found that women with the highest pesticide levels during pregnancy gave birth to children who later tested 4 to 7 percent lower on I.Q. tests compared with their elementary school peers.

Whilst we all cannot own our own farms, and we cannot know what goes into making the food we buy from our stores or supermarkets, we do know that organic food has been made with three key sustainabilities in mind:

• Ecological
• Economical
• Social

It’s true that we cannot eliminate all pollution from our diets, but take the example of the organic apple vs the conventional apple.

Pesticides

The Conventional Apple orchardist will, by the time the season harvest is done, have sprayed approximately 2000L of spray mix (pesticides, fungicides, insecticides) on the plants.  Some of these would have leached into the soil and some are known not to break down for many years. And the farmer has abided by the best conventional farming practices used by all the major players for a long time.

The apple goes into the supermarket after it has been waxed to a brilliant shine and, you pluck it from the fruit bowl at home, give it a quick rinse under the tap, and pop it into your toddlers hands as a quick, healthy nutritious afternoon snack.  You hope.

To our mind the Standford review of the available literature shows little we didn’t already know, but its conclusions are a long way from its findings. So we’d make three points in conclusion:

1. The jury is still out on nutritional differences: season and ripeness may play vital parts

2. We like the taste: we observe farmers markets growing so there’s something to be said about consumer demand for better taste

3. We prefer not to eat the pesticides, thanks.

Mindful Eating

If you’d like to know more about Bellamy’s Organic and the certified organic baby foods we make, click on this link.

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