Food for Thought-Are Organic Foods Safer and Healthier?

The Annals of Internal Medicine published a study in September 2012  that asked the question are organic foods safer and more nutritious than conventionally grown foods. An interesting question given that the organic food business has grown from $3.7 billion dollars annually in 1997 to $27 billion dollars in 2010. The analysis yielded no significant difference from the perspective of health risks and benefits after comparing the outcomes of 240 seperate studies that met strict inclusion criteria. There was no significant difference in vitamin content, heavy metal presence, or prevalence of bacterial contamination of the various meats and vegetables.  Not surprisingly, organic foods had 30% lower contamination with pesticide residue and lower likelihood of contamination with antibiotic resistant bacteria. However, there was no difference in  the overall contamination with pathologic bacteria in conventional vs organic foods. Finally the study mentioned that there are no long term studies looking at the health benefits in populations who consume organic foods vs conventionally grown foods. 

My Thoughts: 

If your family is like mine we try and buy locally grown organic foods when possible.  This study and its outcomes will not change my buying practices but it will make me less concerned about giving by child a glass of milk that is not certified as organic or a conventionally grown banana. I think that ultimately the most important component of diet is the foods you choose as opposed to the technique used to grow the particular foods. Sensible portions of a low fat, low cholesterol diet, that have very limited exposure to processed foods probably makes the most sense. Regarding choosing organic vs conventionally grown foods the article suggests that making the decision to choose organic foods  may be more of an environmental and ethical decision than a decision based on nutrition and health. Until a study comes out that looks at the long term benefits of eating an organic diet, I think we should not blindly accept that eating an organic diet will make us healthier. If you are interested in learning more about these topics, two websites that I've been following recently are ThePlantEater and LivingMaxwell.