Organic Food Isn't More Nutritious, but That Isn't the Point [View all]

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http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/09/organic-food-isnt-more-nutritious-but-that-isnt-the-point/261929/



Of all the food-related countercultural buzzwords that have gone mainstream in recent years, organic ranks among the most confusing. Like its cousins (cf. local, free-range, or worst of all, natural), the term's promotion by grocery stores everywhere has caused it to escape the strict definitions laid out by the USDA . But from Stanford University comes new research suggesting what we should have known all along: organic food isn't actually more nutritious than traditionally-farmed goods.

In a widely publicized and discussed analysis of more than 200 studies comparing organic to regular food products, researchers have found that organics don't have more vitamins or minerals (with the lone exception of phosphorus, which we all get in sufficient amounts anyway). Nor do they have an appreciable effect when it comes to heading off food-borne illness, although the germs found in conventional meat do have a higher chance of being drug-resistant (more on that in a bit).

That we needed a study to understand how nutritionally similar organic foods are to non-organics is a perfect example of the way we've lost sight of what the term really means. It's worth keeping in mind that organic refers only to a particular method of production; while switching to organic foods can be good for you insofar as doing so helps you avoid nasty things like chemicals and additives, there's nothing in the organic foods themselves that gives them an inherent nutritional advantage over non-organics. In other words, it's not wrong to say organic food is "healthier" than non-organics. It's just unrealistic to think that your organic diet is slowly turning you into Clark Kent.

(You laugh, but according to a Nielsen study cited by USA Today, a ton of people believe just that, or something close to it. Fifty-one percent of those surveyed said they bought organic food because they thought it was more nutritious.)


*** why i want 'organic'.
i got turned on to "organic" through 3 different but sort of related avenues.

1 -- was a hippie -- i wanted to do things the heal both the earth and people.

2 -- i started reading MFK Fisher -- her experiences with produce in france -- that a tomato tasted different there -- it tasted like a tomato

3 -- our wonderful national treasure -- alice waters. -- cooking is an act of love -- and you want to serve the best -- most flavorful things that you can to your loved ones.

i don't think the the individual cells of my body can tell much difference between an organic tomato -- or a grass fed, humanely raised beef -- but i'm failing those 3 venues that i learned when i don't do them.

cooking at the end has become the most important reason of all -- i want 'the best' both for my self and those i love -- i deserve it -- and so do they.