As people are becoming concerned about their health now they are welcoming more and more organic food from the supermarkets in their kitchens. Now they are spending more money in buying organic food in order to add more nutritious and healthy food in diet. The label “Organic” is something which is creating a thought in minds that these are best to be consumed for maintaining a fit and healthy body? But is it so? Does organics really helps us in maintaining good health of our family or is it only posing an extra burden on our pockets? The controversy over the nutritional value of organic and conventional foods is one which is going on from a long time. Which one is more nutritious and healthier? So first of all we should know about organic foods. In this article we will try to provide you information about organic foods, controversy over organic and conventional food, nutritional output and effect on human health.
What do you understand by Organic?
The term “Organic” simply means made from living matter or we can say free from synthetic or chemicals. Organic food is the one which is grown in soil free from any kind of exposure to chemical or synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, weedicides, insecticides, bioengineered genes (GMOs), growth hormones or any additives for few years before the harvest. So that the soil in which we are going to use as farm replenishes the natural content of soil to be fertile enough for farming. Organic farming relies on the principle of no chemical intervention on soil and crops to fight against weeds, pests to provide nutrition to plants.
How a farmer is growing and producing crops in their fields defines the organic character of the crop. For producing organic foods manure and compost is to be used for enriching soil with proper nutrients t instead of chemical fertilizers. Traditional practices or crop rotation, inter cropping and mulching are used for maintain soil fertility. While raising animals in order to produce organic milk and meat, what they are feeding their livestock is really important. The livestock raised on natural diets without any supplementation of growth hormones and antibiotics etc. defines its organic nature.
But will these practices really raised organic foods that are totally free from any type of chemical or synthetic additives? This is where the controversy begins.
Organic food versus Conventional food:
People have different reasons behind choosing organics over conventional food items which are very much varied whether from being safer for the environment to that of personal wellbeing.
Safer: Being free from any kind of reliance on chemical fertilizers and pesticides etc. organic foods are considered to be safer to consume. But the products generated from these may involve addition of more calories, fats, sugars and salts for its preservation and processing. And this could make it more or like similar to junk food not safe to consume in increased amounts.
Economical: Organic foods are more economical than conventional foods. As organic farming does not uses any chemical additives it replenishes ecosystem, conserves and builds soil health and has small carbon footprint. It helps in conserving biodiversity by being sustainably suitable for the environment. Whereas conventional foods relies on chemical additives in order to increase yield. This causes soil infertility, addition to greenhouse gas emissions and disturbs the ecosystem by water pollution and soil erosion. Are organic foods really economical? The allowed pesticides used in organic farming could be toxic to water and soil ecosystem. The manure used when enters water bodies can cause eutrophication or algal blooms, increase in nitrate and phosphorus contents in these systems overall impacting living organisms.
Nutritious and healthier: Organic foods are believed to be more nutritious or healthy to eat as their growing process does not relies on use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides as in case of conventional food items.
This is still a matter of question. Some studies are in favor of the above statement but contradictory studies are also there. Studies reported by Brandt et al. and Barański et al. supports the statement that organic foods are more nutritious but Dangour et al. and Smith-Spangler et al. in their studies reported that there is no difference in the nutritional quality of organic and conventional foods. According to the data produced in these studies there is an inconsistent behavior shown in the nutritional value of organic and conventional foods. Similarly, in case of organic animal produce there is inconsistent variation of components. Still there are not enough evidences in support of organic foods being healthier than conventional foods.
Effect on human health:
Besides the whole controversy on the nutritional value of organic foods over conventional one, the other most important consideration is what are the effects of organic foods on human health? So, there is scarce data on long term interventional studies to identify the potential risks on human health on consumption of organic foods. Most cohort studies in humans were mother child dyad cohorts and reported a positive association between organic foods and risks of pre-eclampsia in mothers, eczema in infants and/or hypospadias in baby boys.
A French-Belgium Nutrienet-Sainté cohort study reported that those who are regular consumers of organic food had substantially lower risk of being obese. The relation between consumption of organic food and reduced risk of obesity was also found in data adjusted for age, smoking status, diet, physical activity, energy intake, education and public nutritional guidelines. A UK cohort study focused on occurrence of cancer in middle-aged women reported that there is a weak association between consumption of organic food and a reduced incidence of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
However, a range of confounding factors may influence outcomes of all cohort studies since organic food and conventional food consumers are known to vary in lifestyle factors (e.g. diet, smoking or alcohol habits, medications, health supplements and vaccinations, and/or physical fitness) which are often difficult to completely factor out in these studies.
Does the tag “Organic” really guarantees its organic nature?
This is what nobody is sure about whether the farms are truly 100% based on organic fertilizers and manure. Whether the organic milk, eggs and meat are produced is from natural feeding practices or the animal is supplemented with some growth hormones and antibiotics or medicines in order to increase the production of milk, meat and to keep away the animals from diseases. So the organic nature of the animal products is totally dependent on their grazing practices and feeds.
Organic farming claimed of not using any pesticides or fertilizers. But what about organic pesticides that are approved by concerned authorities for use in organic farming? Are they safe and up to what amount? Organic pesticides or fungicides if are to be used in greater doses will not at all makes any difference with those of conventional food items produced based on use of organic additives. Even organic pesticides or fungicides are health hazardous if not used in appropriate quantities.
Organic foods are not the replacement of conventional foods. It is basically the practice of reducing the amount of chemicals or inorganic salts addition to our environment in order to provide a safe and chemical free natural environment to the world. The sustainable use, maintenance and conservation of natural resources are prime importance of today’s world.
If conventional food items are grown by using negligible amount of chemical fertilizers by avoidance of unnecessary use of chemicals and replacing them with organic additives, they will be of equal nutritional value of the organic foods. Conventional breeders need to implement the use of traditional agriculture practices of using organic manures and compost, crop rotation and intercropping strategies or to modify their present techniques and practices. So implementing these strategies and practices will be safer for the environment and for us too.
So, both organic and conventional foods and their farming strategies have their own strengths and weaknesses which is needed to analyzed to extract out the best possible practices which are safer, healthier as well as economical.
