The Benefits Of Organic Food Are Real!

by normanratcliffe

Following the recent publication in the Annals of Internal Medicine stating that there is a lack of evidence that organic food is more nutritious than conventional food, many headlines have appeared such as “No health benefits from organic food” which undermine the public’s faith in the advantages of organic food.

It must be made ABSOLUTELY CLEAR that this recent paper plus a similar analysis commissioned by the Food Standards Agency and published in 2009 are NOT original scientific experimental studies but reviews of already published work. In addition, the analyses included the results from studies published several decades ago (1966-2011!) probably before the best agricultural practices had been developed for organic food. The importance of such best practice was emphasized by Leifert and colleagues (see, www.qlif.org). What is the point of  trying to look at the benefits of organic food unless the latest agricultural practices for producing the food tested have been adopted!!??

Maximising these practices it has been shown that:

  • Some organic vegetables (including spinach, cabbage, onions and tomatoes) and some fruit contain significantly higher levels of antioxidants (such as vitamin C) flavones and beta carotene than conventionally-farmed produce.
  • Organic milk was also found to contain higher levels of antioxidants (such as vitamin E) and fatty acids, including omega 3.
  • In addition, organic food was shown to contain lower levels of pesticides and heavy metals.
  • The research was included in the EU “Quality Low Input Food (QLIF)” project and lead by Professor Carlo Leifert. The research involved over 31 institutes, companies and universities and took place over 5 years from March 2004 to April 2009.
  • Most important too was the fact that to achieve these results good agricultural practices were required and details of these were included in the reports (See, Proceedings 3rd International Congress European Integrated Project Quality Low Input Food (QLIF), March 2-23, 2007 and http://www.qlif.org for leaflets and links).
  • The BOTTOM LINE is that in rapidly evolving subjects, like organic farming, you should only take notice of reviews that are mainly confined to the more recent (3-4 years or so) literature since these will include the latest scientific advances. The fact that old literature is relied upon for any such reviews indicates that there is a need for more scientific study due to the large gaps in our knowledge.

Find out much more about the organic versus conventional food debate here:

It’s Your Life: End the Confusion from Inconsistent Health Advice

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