FOOD SPECIAL...Organic products no more nutritious than conventional co

Organic products no more nutritious than conventional counterparts

A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine shows that organic fruits, vegetables and meat may be no more nutritious than their conventional counterparts. Nor were they any less likely to be contaminated by dangerous bacteria like E. coli. In the meta-analysis study, researchers combined data from 237 studies, examining a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and meats. For four years, they performed statistical analyses looking for signs of health benefits from adding organic foods to the diet. Higher level of phosphorus … but no real benefit One finding of the study was that organic produce, over all, contained higher levels of phosphorus than conventional produce. But because almost everyone gets adequate phosphorus from a wide variety of foods, according to the researchers, the higher levels in the organic produce are unlikely to confer any health benefit. The organic produce also contained more compounds known as phenols, believed to help prevent cancer, than conventional produce. While the difference was statistically significant, the size of the difference varied widely from study to study, and the data was based on the testing of small numbers of samples. Other variables, like ripeness, had a greater influence on nutrient content. Thus, a lush peach grown with the use of pesticides could easily contain more vitamins than an unripe organic one. Lower pesticide & antibiotic residues Over all, the researchers concluded that 38% of conventional produce tested in the studies contained detectable residues, compared with 7% for the organic produce. They also noted a couple of studies that showed that children who ate organic produce had fewer pesticide traces in their urine. However, the levels were almost always under the allowed safety limits by the Environmental Protection Agency. Similarly, organic meat contained considerably lower levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria than conventionally-raised animals did, but bacteria, antibiotic-resistant or otherwise, would be killed during cooking. On the study’s results, the Organic Trade Association’s (OTA) Executive Director and CEO Christine Bushway said: "Consumers seeking to minimize their exposure to pesticide residues will find that foods bearing the USDA Organic label are the gold standard. This is because organic foods have the least chemicals applied in their production and the least residues in the final products. And, because organic livestock practices forbid the use of antibiotics, including the routine use of low level antibiotics for growth, organic meat contains less antibiotic-resistant bacteria."

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