Is Organic Food Healthier For You?

What Does “Organic” Really Mean?

So, the word “organic” is actually a legal term used by companies that demonstrates how the food was prepared, raised, or created

In the US there are several general regulations necessary in order to label something as organic. These are:

• No genetic modification of the food (non GMO)

• Without chemical fertilizers to kill bugs and weeds

• LIMITED number of pesticides - no synthetic just “natural.” However, some of these natural pesticides are actually more detrimental to your health than the synthetically created ones..

• Rotate crops

• NO Antibiotics

• NO chemical food additives

Meat and dairy products as "organic" requires them to have been given organic feed. Example:

• Cows = Have to be able to graze, or eat grass at least 1/3 of the year. Hmm what are they eating the other 2/3 of the year. Interesting..

• Pigs and Chickens = have to have the option to go outside. Kind of like an indoor outdoor pool..that sounds nice. Unless you're a chicken who can't really swim that well..anyway

It's important to mention that nowhere here does it say that organic means the actual ingredients themselves are nutritious

Is It Healthier?

So based on everything we just explained about what organic is, no GMO, no antibiotics, no chemical additives, limited pesticides…food should be healthier right? Well...not exactly. There's conflicting scientific data about this. The two biggest studies on this were meta-analyses, which are basically studies that study a bunch of studies as if that's not confusing enough…

• 2012 meta-analysis of 240 studies didn't show any significant differences in overall minerals and vitamins in organic foods expect for 1..

• A 2014 meta-analysis of 343 studies showed organic crops had higher antioxidant and lower pesticide levels

• Organic does cut down on pesticides, but it's not 0. On average, about 7% of all organic foods still have detectable levels of pesticides when produced compared to 38% of conventionally grown foods. The other issue is organic production farms have to use "natural" pesticides, which again are in some cases actually more detrimental to your health than synthetically created ones. So while the 7% of organic foods that contain pesticides is less than the 38% of conventional farming, the organic pesticides may actually be more harmful to your body..

Is It Better For The Environment?

2017 meta-analysis, again a study studying studies, of over 700 different farms both organic and conventional were analyzed. The results concluded that neither farming method was better for the environment I.E both hurt the environment

• Organic farms use fewer pesticides than traditional, but require more land to crop because of having to rotate their crops regularly

• Organic farms also use less energy than conventional farms, but have similar green house gas emissions

Unfortunately this comes out as a wash for both..

So, as the organic industry has increased its demand over the last decade, the real question becomes is it worth buying organic food? My answer would be for whole foods like fruits and veggies, I think it would be worth it in my own personal opinion. For other things that are organic processed foods, I would say no. Regardless, it's important to wash your fruits and veggies when you get them.