Is Organic Healthier?
Organic foods, especially raw or non-processed, contain higher levels of beta carotene, vitamins C, D and E, which are all health-promoting polyphenols, cancer-fighting antioxidants, flavonoids that help ward off heart disease, essential fatty acids, and essential minerals. On average, organic is 25% more nutritious in terms of vitamins and minerals than products derived from industrial food production.
Is Organic Food Safer?
Organic food doesn’t contain food additives, flavor enhancers (like MSG), artificial sweeteners (like aspartame and high-fructose corn syrup), contaminants (like mercury) or preservatives (like sodium nitrate), that can cause health problems.
Eating organic has the potential to lower the incidence of autism, learning disorders, diabetes, cancer, coronary heart disease, allergies, osteoporosis, migraines, dementia, and hyperactivity.
Organic food doesn’t contain pesticides. More than 400 chemical pesticides are routinely used in conventional farming and residues remain on non-organic food even after washing. Children are especially vulnerable to pesticide exposure. One class of pesticides, endocrine disruptors, may be responsible for early puberty and breast cancer. Pesticides are also linked to asthma and cancer.
Organic food isn’t genetically modified. Under organic standards, genetically modified (GM) crops and ingredients are prohibited.
Organic animals aren’t given drugs. Organic farming standards prohibit the use of antibiotics, growth hormones and genetically modified vaccines in farm animals. Hormone-laced beef and dairy consumption is correlated with increased rates of breast, testis and prostate cancers.
Organic animals aren’t fed slaughterhouse waste, blood, or manure. Eating organic reduces the risks of CJD, the human version of mad cow disease, as well as Alzheimer’s.
Organic animals aren’t fed arsenic.
Organic animals aren’t fed byproducts of corn ethanol production (which increases the rate of E. coli contamination).
Organic crops aren’t fertilized with toxic sewage sludge or coal waste, or irrigated with E. coli contaminated sewage water.
Organic food isn’t irradiated. Cats fed a diet of irradiated food got multiple sclerosis within 3-4 months.
Organic food contains less illness-inducing bacteria. Organic chicken is free of salmonella and has a reduced incidence of campylobacter.
|