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Health Benefits of Organic Food
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Organic Food Basics

The health benefits of organic food are more perceived than real. However, the public opinion that organic food is healthier than conventional food is quite strong and is the sole reason for about 30% growth in the organic food industry since the past 5-6 years.

Organic Facts is a strong proponent of organic food; however, the website believes in putting across the facts right to its visitors.

There is little scientific evidence to prove that organic food is better in quality than conventional food. Scientific research conducted so far on various organic food items have not been able to give strong signals about the superiority of organic food over non organic food. As a result, even the FDA and the USDA clearly mention that non organic food is as healthy as organic food. However, there are some scientific studies that have proved organic milk and organic tomatoes to be better than the non-organic ones.

Organic Milk: Recent research conducted on organic milk has shown that it has more anti-oxidants, omega 3, CLA, and vitamins than non organic milk. According to the researchers at the Danish Institute of Agricultural Research, University of Aberdeen, and the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, organic milk is healthier than non organic milk as organic cows are pasture grazed which results in better quality milk.

Organic Tomatoes: According to a 10 year study conducted by the University of California, Davis, organic tomatoes are produced in an environment that has lower nutrient supply as nitrogen-rich chemical fertilizers are not added. This leads to excessive formation of antioxidants such as quercetin (79% higher) and kaempferol (97% higher) in organic tomatoes. As we all know, antioxidants are good for health and help in reducing heart diseases.

These studies have increased the hopes of numerous people who strongly believe that mankind should stop using chemical fertilizers and pesticides and shift to the more sustainable organic farming practices. There are many studies that prove that there is some pesticide and fertilizer contamination in non organic food, and there are others which claim that organic food is not healthy (they contain harmful bacteria and viruses) because of non usage of strong chemicals. However, none of these studies (showing chemical contamination or presence of bacteria/viruses) do not show any impact on health of individuals.

In general, organic food consumers, manufactuers and farmers strongly believe in organic food having following benefits over non organic food:

  • Better health: Since organic food is not prepared using chemical fertilizers and pesticides, it does not contain any traces of these strong chemicals and might not affect the human body.
  • Better taste: People strongly believe that organic food tastes better than non organic food. The prominent reason for this belief is that it is produced using organic means of production. Further organic food is often sold locally resulting in availability of fresh produce in the market.
  • Environment safety: As harmful chemicals are not used in organic farming, there is minimal soil, air and water pollution; thus ensuring a safe world for future generations to live in.
  • Animal welfare: Animal welfare is an important aspect of producing organic milk, organic meat, organic poultry, and organic fish. People feel happy that the animals are not confined to a miserable caged life while eating organic animal products.

Other articles of interest:
Comprehensive Report: Organic Food Fundamentals
How to Find an Organic Food Store


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peterpan  - Research 2010-03-08 06:04:02
Hi, I'm doing a research paper on the benefits of eating organically grown foods and I was wondering how crops were fertilized and how you keep bugs off your crops without using pesticides and fertilizer. I'm afraid I'm a bit comfused. Thanks! Peterpan
Jian  - organic foods 2010-02-26 17:26:32
Organic food is really hard to find and distinguish if you don't know where to buy and what is the taste. I hardly don't know where and experienced lots of sites until i found hidalgofoods
Anonymous  - Mr 2010-02-17 11:01:41
I often wonder why so many continue to repeat the global warming mantra when real evidence suggests we are slowly going into another global cooling event. Rye futures will continue to rise as real farmers continue to buy rye seed on credit to have a cold weather food product ready for harvest when the winters begin to extend into spring. The ONLY thing that truly affects global temperature in a meaningful way is the sun and arguments to the contrary are just so much hot air and pseudo-science.
Ivan 2010-03-02 06:19:43
Tell it to the Inuit. They will call you an idiot. They can see the change and we can see it with satellites. You should base your opinion on the evidence. Maybe you would switch to saying the warming is real and the cause isn't humans, but at least that would be progress.
andymacgrath  - I think 2010-02-17 09:16:57
Chicago liposuction

Organic food does not contain chemicals/pesticides and poison materials.It should be certfied organic food.
Frank  - chemicals 2009-09-17 17:36:48
it is absolutely untrue that organic farming is safer for the environment. because organic farming corperations wont use synthetic pesticides like conventional farming corps, they have to use out-dated harmful natural pesticides which not only damage the environment way more than nonorganic, but are more harmful to eat. newer synthetic chemicals are speciffically designed to not damage the environment and be safer for human consumption. PWND. LOL.
Anonymous  - daily dose of truth 2009-11-10 06:15:00
umm, Frank, that's just not true. there is no synthetic pesticide that does not affect the environment in a negative way. whether it is other pests that killed off or the runoff that gets into the ground (only about 2% of conventional pest- and herbicides used actually reach there target, and NO pesticide can target only one pest) they have a negative impact. synthetics are not the answer.
There are a number of techniques that provide just as high of a yield as our conventional industrial farming practices without the use of harsh sythetics, and signifigantly reduce the amount of water ( ~80% of freshwater used in US is for irrigation).
do a little research Frank. the truth is out there.
Kaitlyn 2009-11-15 18:35:52
I definitely would have to agree with this. In conventional farming, the use of pesticides is prominent, and very dangerous for the lives of any living organism living around them. In organic farming, however, there are no "natural pesticides" - They're called botanicals, meaning that they're derived from plants are are able to disintegrate when their work is done, by the Sun. They are extremely efficient, and considering the fact that the pesticides diminish the immune systems of the plants to fight off pests and diseases, botanicals help revive the plants that we have been successfully killing. Please don't post if you heard something like this from a friend, or read it on the internet. No offense, but sometimes information you find is not entirely true. Look it up next time, bro.
Anonymous  - Mr 2010-01-31 20:31:53
"umm, Frank, that's just not true. there is no synthetic pesticide that does not affect the environment in a negative way. whether it is other pests that killed off or the runoff that gets into the ground (only about 2% of conventional pest- and herbicides used actually reach there target, and NO pesticide can target only one pest) they have a negative impact. synthetics are not the answer.
There are a number of techniques that provide just as high of a yield as our conventional industrial farming practices without the use of harsh sythetics, and signifigantly reduce the amount of water ( ~80% of freshwater used in US is for irrigation).
do a little research Frank. the truth is out there."


Instead of doing "research" online and in books , how about I tell you the reality I have discovered from actually BEING a farmer. Organic farming is NOT sustainable in this day and age. Period. On a large scale organic methods worldwide produce half the yield at twice the cost a...
jessica  - hay 2009-09-05 16:17:48
well i dont know what im doiong right now!!
John Hayes  - What price Organic? 2009-08-16 07:59:51
It is difficult to know what benefit organic foods. Some pesticides are found to be picked up in food but organic food is constituded of elements from the list of chemicals in the Periodic Table in the same molecular structures.
jared  - organic is better 2009-07-29 10:15:33
some people think that non organic food is jsut as healthy as organin food and ins oem cases they are right. the point of organic food for myself is to grow it yourself which helps cut down on trips to the store to maybe buy un organic food which is grown with pesticides etc which all lead to polluting the earth. and as alot of people know, global warming is a very big factor in the rest of our lives. it caN HAVE DRASTIC AFFECTS ON OUR WORLD AS WE KNOW IT!! organic food whether you grow it yourself or not is one main way to help cut down on world pollution and to help save our future generations.
MM Hobbins  - Organic is better 2009-06-29 08:21:20
I strongly object to the statement "The health benefits of organic food are more perceived than real." This is not true. Worse, it sounds like people who eat/grow organic are a bunch of obsessors that have made this up in their heads that organic is better. There is strong evidence and case studies to back up the practice of organic farming methods. Most people are aware of DDT, but I am from Michigan, and very much remember when PBB, a toxic chemical, was mistakenly mixed in with feed that went to dairy cows. A farmer followed the chemical trail that was sickening his animals and his family. Turned out, PBB was a toxic chemical that was only excreted through fat cells, such as cow's milk, the meat, and eventually, through human fat cells, including breast milk. Once this was discovered, the animals had to be destroyed. Unfortunately, humans tend to replace one toxic chemical with another. True, PBB was not intended for use as a pesticide; this was accidental. The ...
paulie  - Where's the research? 2009-08-09 16:04:29
I'm not against organic and believe we are probably better off eating foods grown naturally. Not only for ourselves but for the earth for generations to come. What I do object to is saying there is "there is strong evidence and case studies" and then not backing it up with websties or data. I'm sorry but there isn't any evidence. That doesn't mean you are obsessed it means you feel strongly that it is better. I had a friend and a cousin who got breast cancer and both of them started eating home grown organic foods and watched every label and choose the less processed more natural drinks etc. I didn't thing they were obsessed I thought they were making a choice. Get off your high horse. No one is saying you are wrong just that right now there isn't any research. May there will be maybe there won't be but if it works for you Yeah! for you!
Justin  - Hi 2009-06-15 09:47:20
Hi I'm writing a paper for school also. I like this article and I believe it to be true although I was curious as to were the refrences are located. I think that is very valuable info also.
Thanks
guadalupe varela  - organic foods 2009-03-06 08:12:32
i need information about "what is the diffrences between organic foods and regular foods
D.Z  - going organic 2009-01-13 07:59:31
I have chose to eat organic food from now on. I never quite understood what it meant but reading into it, I am trying to do my half in changing the earth. I want to go organic more now reading that it does not hold any chemical harmful to earth. I'm also going green this year.
M.A. Engels  - Family Health Matters! 2008-12-04 18:35:42
I am studying human Service in school! My family and I have about an acre of land that we grow food on each year.We love the fact that most of our food comes strictly from the earth with no types of chemicals! Reading about all the various chemicals they put into conventional foods is really scary! What kind of disease and mutation will future generations have to look forward to? Cancer of almost every part of the body is linked to garbage that is added to foods and the least we can do for the generations to come is to protect our children from this crap!As everyone can tell I'm very passionate about this!If people sat down and studied what is acceptable in conventional foods they may be absolutley horrified!
angela odoherty  - loved ur article 2009-01-13 08:10:23
i agree with u 100% i just wish more people saw it like we did im very passionate about this subject also and i just wanted to let you know!! i live in omaha ne and i wish i had land so i could grow my own food too i cringe at the thought of buying processed food !! i do believe alot of our diseases come from our food and the government and fda dont care as long as they are lining theyre pockets with money the fda will never admit it!! here in omaha we only have one major organic health food store whole foods we had wild oats but whole foods bought it out i wish we had more organic stores and restaurants out here it sucks !! well have a nice day and it was nice to read ur article!!
Dawn  - Organic is better 2008-12-03 19:33:36
This information is great. I'm in Culinary School and we are writing proposals for a class. I'm writting to implement organic foods into our program. This site has been very helpful.
Carlos  - going organic 2008-11-02 19:54:44
currently i am doing a research for my english class for business purposes. in this article provided by this page is resulting interesting that it provides an extended information of organic, this will help me strongly to support my paper.

thanks
and vote for Obama!!!!!!!!!
AJ McCreary  - Organic Food on a budget 2008-10-27 16:24:20
I firmly believe that organic food is better for the environment and for individual consumers. I like that yor site has clear information on the benefits of eatingorganic. Often when people see or hear about orgainc the assume expensive, but thats not always the case. I just wrote a post at http://current.pic.tv/ defining what organic food is and how to buy it on a budget. Through local farmers markets, shopping in bulk, etc. I am really proud that that consumers have started really taking in the organic products but want to remind people its really important to watch how big buisness is getting involved and to moniter regulations and standards set by the government. They weill cut corners and its our responsibility as consumers to keep organic organic!
MM Hobbins 2009-06-29 08:25:50
So true, because there are different 'grades' of organic.
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