Eating Organic, Does it Matter?

Walking through the grocery store the other day, I found myself struggling with a decision- do I pay the extra cash for organic foods or buy conventional and pay rent this month?  I’m on a tight budget but want to eat healthy.  Organic food is more expensive and harder to find, but how do I know it even makes a difference?

One study1 followed over 600k women over a period of almost ten years.  Researchers hypothesized that women eating a diet of organic foods would decrease their risk of cancer.  While the study showed minimal effect for most cancers, it did have one very interesting finding.  Women that followed an organic diet were significantly less likely to develop non-hodgkin lymphoma.  The most interesting part of this is that it’s consistent with data that show an increased risk of developing non-hodgkin lymphoma with high exposure to pesticides in food2,3.  So it appears that eating a diet high in organic foods, and therefore low in pesticides, may be protective against developing non-hodgkin lymphoma.

And then there’s the high amounts of heavy metals found in conventionally grown foods.

Cadmium, a heavy metal found in the American food supply, is a toxic metal that accumulates in the body, mainly the kidneys and liver, it’s bad news.  Organically grown crops have been found to contain half the amount of cadmium as conventionally grown ones4.  The cadmium comes from the phosphate-based fertilizers sprayed on the crops.  Even better, this study4 found that organically grown crops contain higher amounts of antioxidants than conventionally grown ones.  Score one for organic.

Now, as you’ve probably noticed, food marketing agencies have picked up on the fact that consumers are willing to pay extra for organic.  We can buy organic candy, organic potato chips, organic you name it.  Organic does not equal healthy.  In fact, some people even felt it was more acceptable to eat a higher amount of cookies if they were labeled organic.5  Again, just because it says organic does not mean its healthy.  Cookies still contain high amounts of sugar and organic cookies are no different.

It’s important that we keep this all in perspective and consider the big picture.  While pesticides on food are not ideal nor considered the safest practice, an organic or nothing mindset can be harmful, even dangerous.  For example, one survey found that consumers believed that eating conventional produce is almost as bad as smoking a pack of cigarettes6.  Thats insane!  Organic or not, we need to make it a priority to get as many fruits and veggies as possible in our diet.  In fact, this study found that if only half the US population increased their intake of fruits and vegetables everyday by just one serving, 20,000 cancer cases may be avoided!

While there is still a good bit of controversy on the safety of certain pesticides, our opinions will continue to evolve as more research on the subject comes out.  I want to encourage you when choosing between conventional and no fruits and veggies at all, always opt for the fruits and veggies!

 

  1. Bradbury, K., Balkwill, A., Spencer, E., Roddam, A., Reeves, G., Green, J., . . . Pirie, K. (2014). PP76 Organic food consumption and the incidence of cancer in a large prospective study of women in the UK. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 68(Suppl 1). doi:10.1136/jech-2014-204726.171
  2. Bräuner, E. V., Sørensen, M., Gaudreau, E., Leblanc, A., Eriksen, K. T., Tjønneland, A., Raaschou-Nielsen, O. (2011). A Prospective Study of Organochlorines in Adipose Tissue and Risk of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. Environmental Health Perspectives, 120(1), 105-111. doi:10.1289/ehp.1103573
  3. Alavanja, Michael C. R., Jonathan N. Hofmann, Charles F. Lynch, Cynthia J. Hines, Kathryn H. Barry, Joseph Barker, Dennis W. Buckman, Kent Thomas, Dale P. Sandler, Jane A. Hoppin, Stella Koutros, Gabriella Andreotti, Jay H. Lubin, Aaron Blair, and Laura E. Beane Freeman. “Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Risk and Insecticide, Fungicide and Fumigant Use in the Agricultural Health Study.” PLoS ONE 9.10 (2014): n. pag. Web.
  4. Barański, Marcin, Dominika Średnicka-Tober, Nikolaos Volakakis, Chris Seal, Roy Sanderson, Gavin B. Stewart, Charles Benbrook, Bruno Biavati, Emilia Markellou, Charilaos Giotis, Joanna Gromadzka-Ostrowska, Ewa Rembiałkowska, Krystyna Skwarło-Sońta, Raija Tahvonen, Dagmar Janovská, Urs Niggli, Philippe Nicot, and Carlo Leifert. “Higher antioxidant and lower cadmium concentrations and lower incidence of pesticide residues in organically grown crops: a systematic literature review and meta-analyses.” British Journal of Nutrition 112.05 (2014): 794-811. Web.
  5. http://journal.sjdm.org/10/10509/jdm10509.pdf
  6. Risk perceptions and food choice: an exploratory analysis of organic- versus conventional-produce buyers.Risk Anal. 1990 Sep;10(3):367-74.