Organic food

Last month, my mentee, Mary shared a blog with us on vegan baking. This month, she tackles the topic of organic food and whether it really is any better than regular produce.


Mary Lin
Mary Lin is an Accredited Practicing Dietitian after successfully completing the Bachelor of Nutrition and Dietetics at Monash University. Mary is passionate about exploring food possibilities to promote health and wellbeing.  She has a special interest in heart health, vegetarianism/veganism, and food intolerance. Mary's hobbies include cooking, baking, and playing music.

Connect with Mary on LinkedIn

Connect with Mary at her blog Food is a Many-Splendoured Thing

Organic food can be found scattered almost everywhere in supermarkets and markets these days. Even though it is more expensive, more and more people seem to be buying organic food. It has been found that most people go organic because they believe that it’s fresher and healthier. I’ve also noticed that many supermarkets put a lot of organic food in their ‘health food’ section. But is organic food really better for us nutritionally?

What is organic food?

In a nutshell, organic food is produced without chemicals or drugs with the intention to protect the environment. Organic foods include crops produced without using pesticides and artificial fertilisers. Where livestock is involved, organic means that the animals are bred ‘naturally and traditionally’ (e.g. no hormones to make them grow larger).

Is organic food more nutritious?

The claim that organic food is healthier has been flying around for a very long time. However, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has recently published a couple of very interesting reviews of studies on organic food and nutrition. A systematic review by Dangour in 2009 has concluded that organic food does nothave different nutrient quality compared to conventional food. Even though there were small differences detected in some of the studies, these were more likely to be biological-related or caused by the production processes. Another review explored whether eating organic food has any nutrition-related health benefits. The evidence shows that there are no differences in nutrition-related health outcomes between organic food eaters and conventional food eaters. Therefore, the current evidence we have demonstrates that organic food is not nutritionally better compared to conventional food.

What about conventional food? Is it safe to eat even though they use chemicals?

The Food Standards Australian New Zealand has regulations on the maximum residue levels from chemicals that are allowed in food. These maximum residue levels are scientifically proven to be safe for us. Standard 1.4.2 in the Food Standard Code has a list of all the residues that are allowed to be found in food as well as their maximum residue levels. The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority also regulates the registration of agriculture and veterinary chemical products to assess and ensure that they are safe. They also review any products that have been registered to make sure that they are still safe to use. Therefore, even though they use chemicals in some conventional foods, the government is making sure that the chemicals, as well as the amount of chemical residues, are safe for us to eat.

So should I go organic then?

Well, we now know from the evidence available that there are no significant nutritional differences between organic food and conventional food, therefore I’d say it really comes down to personal preference. Organic is more environmentally friendly, but it is often more expensive. Organic fruit and vegetables may look less perfect, but some people prefer their taste. So make your own judgement on what you want to go with, and if you don’t go organic, don’t worry, you’re not missing out on any extra nutrients.

Links:
Australian Certified Organic
Organic Growers of Australia



Editor's note:


Thanks Mary. I appreciate the time you've taken to give us the low-down on organic eating. For me personally, I love to support the Victorian Farmers Markets and would certainly encourage people to support local growers wherever possible, regardless of if they're organic or not. I do find that some organic fruit and veg tastes much sweeter, but I can't say that I buy it all the time. I think it's really up to the individual, what their values are, and what they support. Thanks again for an informative blog post.


I also wanted to share some of the commentary that was published following the systematic review by Dangour in 2009. Provides some interesting reading. 

Gibbon, D (2009)
Benbrook, C, Davis, D, Andrews P (2009)
Dangour, D (2009)