Posted on 07/29/2009 12:56:03 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
Organic food gives no health benefits to consumers, according to research for the Food Standards Agency published today.
Shoppers pay more for organic fruit, vegetables, chicken, beef and milk but the food gives no nutritional enhancement to people’s diet.
The watchdog stopped short of advising consumers that buying organic produce was a waste of money but its message was clear: choosing to eat organic food will make no important difference to a person’s overall health. Eating a healthy balanced diet is the only important thing, the report concluded.
The research — the first and biggest study undertaken of scientific papers published in the past 50 years on the health and diet benefits of organic food — will come as a blow to the organic food industry, which is now worth £2.1 billion a year in Britain..
The findings, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, also threatens to put the FSA on a collision course with organic champions such as the Soil Association.
The £120,000 year-long study by a team from the London School for Hygiene and Tropical health was headed by Dr Alan Dangour, a public health nutritionist. His team identified some differences between organic and conventionally produced food but concluded that they were not sufficiently important to make any difference to a person’s health or give nutritional benefit.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
It’s not all organic. Canned cheeze whiz is pure chemistry set “food”. And a lot of the boxed foods are the product of Chinese protein powders. There’s some freaky stuff out there masquerading as food.
Nope. No matter what it is, there are some on this forum that will insist that it’s all “carbon based” and therefore safe to eat. Haven’t you seen them on these threads before? :~) (I eat organic, too, except when I’m at Outback! lol)
Maybe we should hand them some strychnine, hey it’s carbon based.
I eat tasty, sometimes that’s organic, sometimes it’s not, I really do try to avoid “what the hell is that”.
Which is why I have no problem passing on the hummus and tofu! lol They look nasty!
ARG!!! Did anyone actually READ the article? It states that it did NOT study the affect that no pesticides or antibiotics etc. had on organic food. The study only covered the nutritional differences. They state in the article, should anyone choose to actually read it, that some people will still choose organic because of those issues. Gheez.
You don't think organic food is treated with pesticides and herbicides? It is, they just use organic pesticides and herbicides. However, all artificial and organic pesticides contain carbon compounds so man made and organic pesticides are both organic pesticides. Using weakened pesticides and fungicides, or not using them at all, can result in the formation of mycotoxins and aflatoxins that are much more dangerous to you than any pesticide residue.
If pesticides aren't used invasive microorganisms could spread into the plant tissue causing the plant to make and release antimicrobial toxins that can be dangerous to humans. Plants possess chemical defenses and some plants will increase by 100 times the amount of these toxins to fight off attacks. They're not visible and are significantly more dangerous than any man made chemicals used to protect the plant. I wish the fans of organic food the best with them.
IPM farming has shown promise in reducing pesticide use but I don't know how widespread it is being used today or how you would know that any particular organic product is from a farm employing IPM methods.
The hormone given to milk cows to increase yields is identical to the one they produce naturally. There are no meaningful differences in the levels of hormones in any milk.
“The hormone given to milk cows to increase yields is identical to the one they produce naturally. There are no meaningful differences in the levels of hormones in any milk.”
You are entitled to believe whatever you want, but my family’s health visibly improved when we switched from regular to organic milk.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.