Is Organic Food any Better?
Typically people will spend a little more money on organic foods for several perceived benefits, including:
👉 Taste
👉 Health
👉 Environmental impact
👉 Less pesticides
In almost all cases, organic foods are more expensive, rendering any possible benefits financially unfeasible for the socially deprived, but for those who are willing to fork out the extra money.. Are the believed benefits actually backed up? .”
A systematic review“Nutritional quality of organic foods: a systematic review” from 2009 concluded that “there is no evidence of a difference in nutrient quality between organically and conventionally produced foodstuffs.” This was mirrored in another review in 2010 by Dangour et al. stating “evidence is lacking for nutrition-related health effects that result from the consumption of organically produced foodstuffs.”
Although it has been shown that switching to organic foods results in less synthetic pesticides in the diet, according to Bahlai et al (2010) “researchers found the organic pesticides required larger doses and were more harmful to pests that help protect the crop compared to the synthetic pesticides” The Environmental Protection Agency have also stated “overall, pesticide residues found on foods tested are at levels below the tolerances established by the U.S. (EPA) and pose no safety concern.
“Grass-fed beef requires more land and emits similar GHG emissions as grain-feed beef”
Another major reason people seem to opt for organic is for a greener planet but a 2017 meta-analysis stated “over 90 unique foods produced primarily in high-input systems shows that, per unit of food, organic systems require more land, cause more eutrophication, use less energy, but emit similar greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) as conventional systems; that grass-fed beef requires more land and emits similar GHG emissions as grain-feed beef” So when comparing one farm to another, organic is better, but because of much lower yield, if everyone was to go organic the output of emissions would be much higher.
Finally in a 2019 paper “Comparison of taste quality between organically and conventionally grown fruits and vegetables” there were no clear distinctions between preference for organic or conventional food.
Do you buy organic?