The Surprising Health Benefits of an Organic Diet

If people believe that eating organic food makes them feel better, they are probably right, explained scientists.

According to an experiment, rats that ate organic food were healthier than rats that ate conventional diets. The experiment included 36 rats that were fed on three diets. While each diet included the same ingredients (potatoes, carrots, peas, green kale, apples and rapeseed oil) three different cultivation strategies were used:

Organically--with low input of fertilizer, without pesticides. Minimally fertilized--with low input of fertilizer, with pesticides.Conventionally--with high input of fertilizer, with pesticides.The same diets were fed to the rats throughout their lives and health measurements began at 19 weeks of age after weaning of their first litter.

Health Benefits of Organically Grown Foods

Scientists found that, compared to rats that ate conventional diets, organically fed rats experienced various health benefits. Researchers found the rats that ate organic or minimally fertilized diets had:

Improved immune system status compared to rats that ate conventional diets.Better sleeping habits.Less weight and were slimmer than rats that fed on other diets.Higher vitamin E content in their blood (for organically fed rats).Even though the experiment clearly demonstrates the positive effects of organically grown foods compared to conventionally grown foods on the health of rats, the results cannot be directly correlated to humans. Thus, further research needs to be done in order to discover the relationship between human health and organically grown foods.

Danish Research Centre for Organic Farming

Science Daily March 29, 2005

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

You probably know already that organic foods are good for you. The major problem most people have with organic food is the expense. However, if you plan wisely, eating organically is actually quite affordable. A diet based on whole organic foods does not have to be cost-prohibitive for the average family or single consumer.

Eating organic food is a powerful way to ensure that your food has not been genetically modified and will optimize your health. By definition, food that is "certified organic" must be free from all genetically modified organisms, produced without artificial pesticides and fertilizers and derived from an animal reared without the routine use of antibiotics, growth promoters or other drugs.

While weighing organic food against conventionally grown food, a question many people frequently ask is whether or not organic food is really better. Let's break it down ...

Organic vs. Conventional

For starters, organic farming differs from conventional farming in the methods used to grow crops:

Where conventional farmers apply chemical fertilizers to the soil to grow their crops, organic farmers feed and build soil with natural fertilizer, which is far more environmentally friendly and less likely to cause any long-term complications.

Conventional farmers use insecticides to get rid of insects and disease, while organic farmers use natural methods such as insect predators and barriers for this purpose.

Conventional farmers control weed growth by applying synthetic herbicides, but organic farmers use crop rotation, tillage, hand weeding, cover crops and mulches to control weeds. While herbicides are not nearly as dangerous as insecticides, they still are synthetic chemicals introduced into the environment and clearly are not something that will improve your health.

The result? Conventionally grown food is often tainted with chemical residues, which can be harmful to humans. There is debate over whether dietary exposure to pesticides at levels typically found on food is dangerous, but experts say that consumers should use caution.

Pesticides can have many negative influences on your health, including neurotoxicity, disruption of your endocrine system, carcinogenicity and immune system suppression. Pesticide exposure may also affect male reproductive function and has been linked to miscarriages in women. (To learn more about the kind of toxins that can hurt your health, please review an article I wrote about how to avoid them.)

Additionally, conventional produce tends to have fewer nutrients than organic produce. On average, conventional produce has only 83 percent of the nutrients of organic produce. Studies have found significantly higher levels of nutrients such as vitamin C, iron, magnesium and phosphorus, and significantly less nitrates (a toxin) in organic crops.

Finally, be smart when buying organic foods. Just because something is organic doesn't necessarily make it better for you. You can educate yourself when shopping for true organic foods by reading labels and looking at produce stickers. I detailed what information to look for in a past newsletter article.

So buy and eat, as much as possible, organic produce and free-range, organic foods. If you can only purchase one organic product it probably should be free-range organic eggs. Fortunately, most grocery stores now have these available. If they don't, contact the store manager and encourage them to carry them.

Related Articles:
Major Confusion Between Organic and Healthy

More Antioxidants in Organic Food Than Conventionally Grown Food

Organic fruits and vegetables have significantly higher levels of cancer-fighting antioxidants than traditionally grown foods, according to a study of corn, strawberries and marionberries.

The study suggested that the pesticides and herbicides used by conventional growers hampers the plants’ production of phenolics, chemicals that naturally defend the plants and are beneficial to human health. Fertilizers, on the other hand, appear to increase levels of anti-cancer compounds in the plants. Plants produce flavonoids--phenolic compounds that have potent antioxidant activity--in response to environmental stressors, such as insects or competing plants. Plants that have been exposed to herbicides and pesticides have less of a need to produce such compounds, and therefore produce fewer antioxidants than organically grown food.

The study compared the total antioxidants found in corn, strawberries and marionberries (a type of blackberry) that had either been grown organically (no herbicides, pesticides or fertilizers used), sustainably (fertilizers but no herbicides or pesticides were used) and conventionally (synthetic chemicals were used).

Organic and sustainably grown foods were found to have significantly higher amounts of antioxidants than conventionally grown food. Specifically, levels of antioxidants in sustainably grown corn were 58.5 percent higher than conventionally grown corn, while organically and sustainably grown marionberries had about 50 percent more antioxidants than conventionally grown berries. Further, sustainably and organically grown strawberries had about 19 percent more antioxidants than conventionally grown strawberries.

Sustainably grown produce had the highest antioxidant levels overall, indicating that a combination of organic and conventional growing methods may be most beneficial.

The higher level of antioxidants in the organically grown food is enough to have a significant impact on health and nutrition, researchers noted.

Journal Agricultural Food Chemistry February 26, 2003;51(5):1237-41

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Organic foods are important not only for what they give you--more antioxidants and nutrients--but also for what they don’t give you. If you eat organic vegetables, you will not be exposed to the chemicals and pesticides that are used with conventionally grown food.

Unfortunately, organic foods can be hard to find, especially for those living in rural areas, and are more expensive than non-organic foods.

If you don’t have access to organic vegetables, please realize that non-organic vegetables are better than no vegetables at all. The benefits of the vegetables, particularly if they are consumed raw, outweigh the risks of pesticide residues.