A recent review of over 300 studies published in the British Journal
of Nutrition concluded that organic produce contained more nutrients and less
pesticide than non-organic produce.
To which my comment is: so what?
There is no way that this research – which has been heavily disputed -
can indicate that people should who eat more organic produce are healthier than
people who don’t eat that expensive stuff, and to the researchers credit, they
admit that (albeit reluctantly and begrudgingly, I think).
In other words, the main nutritional benefits from fruits and veggies
comes from the fact that they are fruits and veggies and adding in a bit more
(or even a lot more) nutritional “hits” won’t make them any more useful for
those of us who eat a lot of that stuff anyway.
Besides, there is a distinct potential risk to promoting only organic
produce and that is the cost, so it would very likely be the case that some
people who converted to organic produce from non-organic sources would cut down
on their produce intake to save money (organic cherries at my favorite food
outlet were 6.99 a pound this week, compared to non-organic cherries which
could be had for 4.59; that’s roughly a 40 % difference in price).
Eat yer fruits and veggies and if you can afford them, buy the organic
kind. But not because you’ll be healthier as a consequence, only because you
think they taste better and they might be a bit better for the planet.
