Which Organic Foods?

You may have noticed that organic food is gradually appearing alongside mainstream food in more and more categories: breads, cereals, snack foods, dairy products, meat, and fresh produce. After all, there are only good things to be said for it, and people are demanding higher-quality foods more and more frequently. In fact, the only known adverse physical impact of organic food is that your eyes bug out after looking at the price tags.

Have you been contemplating jumping on the organic food bandwagon, but just aren’t sure how to start? Why not start gradually – a little at a time? An ideal place to start is in the fresh produce section. Here are a few helpful FAQs:

What’s the big deal with organic produce?
It’s all about pesticides — or the lack thereof. Organic farmers don’t use chemical pesticides. They keep their soil virtually pest-free by rotating crops, growing pest-resistant strains, and providing good living conditions for pest-predators like Robber Flies that feast on beetles, spiders that eat grasshoppers, and specific larvae that favor aphids. Even with these precautions, however, organic produce can indeed contain very low — virtually harmless — levels of pesticides because of prior soil contamination, drift from the application of pesticides to nearby fields, or contaminated groundwater.

Who benefits most by eating organic produce?
It must be said that everyone benefits from going organic, but it is most important for those contemplating parenthood, pregnant and nursing women, growing children, the elderly, and those with chronic illness. The evidence is compelling:

• A study conducted by the University of Washington proved that children who ate organic fruits and vegetables had concentrations of pesticides in their blood and urine six times lower than those who ate non-organic produce.
• Similar research done at Emory University in Atlanta bore similar findings: Urinalyses of children ages three to 11 who ate only organic foods found no traces of two toxic chemicals: malathion, an insecticide that can, after it’s ingested in large enough amounts — such as can result from spraying at parks, ball fields, playgrounds and in the neighborhood — metabolize to a substance that has adverse effects on their developing nervous systems; and chlorpyrifos, an even more controversial insecticide marketed by Dow Chemical Company as Dursban and Lorsban that is classified by the Environmental Protection Agency as “moderately toxic” and has been implicated in asthma, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, and low birth weight and developmental delays in toddlers.
• A study by Consumer Reports magazine concluded that much of the produce sold in the U.S. “contains toxic pesticide levels high enough to be dangerous for young children.”
• Tests conducted by the Center for Disease Control revealed a metabolite of chlorpyrifos in the urine of 91 percent of people tested.

Why does organic produce cost so much more than non-organic?

• Organic farming is very labor-intensive.
• There are few economies of scale. Most organic farms are small so there are no quantity discounts for purchase of seed and supplies.
• No government subsidies such as those offered to conventional farmers are available to organic farmers.

Where should a beginner start?
Not all organic produce is worth the expenditure. The most healthful, least-toxic conventionally grown produce includes:

• Bananas
• Pineapples
• Kiwis
• Mango
• Papayas
• Broccoli
• Asparagus
• Cabbage
• Avocados
• Onions 
• Corn   
• Peas                                        

On the other hand, the following foods contain dangerously high levels of two or more kinds of pesticides and are X-rated: 

• Berries, including strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries
• Peaches
• Apples
• Nectarines
• Imported grapes
• Cherries
• Pears
• Bell peppers
• Spinach
• Lettuce
• Potatoes
• Celery
• Carrots

It is true that the FDA, EPA, and USDA claim the toxic level of pesticides in conventionally grown produce is within safe limits. This judgment fails to take into account its long-term cumulative effects, however. Nor does it apply to the adverse effects of combinations of two or more “safe” pesticides.

Is organic produce really better for us? 
Despite assorted claims that there is no nutritional difference between organic and non-organic foods, the research justifying this conclusion may have been based on flawed comparisons. The goal of conventional farming methods is to increase crop yields, but chemically treated soil results in unacceptably low levels of minerals and micronutrients like selenium, calcium, iodine, manganese, zinc, iron, and several vitamins that should’ve found their way to your salad.

One researcher who compared government nutrition tables has convincing evidence that today consumers have to eat four non-organic carrots to obtain the same level of magnesium as just one produced in 1940. Researchers at the University of California-Davis found that berries, corn, and other organically grown vegetables have a 50 percent higher level of antioxidants than the same crops grown conventionally.

Another scientist compares feeding your kids conventionally grown apples and carrots to spraying their food with Raid before you let them eat it.

A few final organic food tips:

• “Natural” does not mean “organic.”
• Foods from other countries are not subject to U.S. Department of Agriculture rules so be wary of imported supplies of the X-rated products listed earlier.
• Produce from a farmers’ market is not necessarily pesticide-free. Ask each vendor if — and which — pesticides were used.
• Washing fruits and vegetables especially well doesn’t reduce the pesticide level any more than taking a shower can rid your body of the flu or a cold, but, like a shower, it does remove dirt and harmful bacteria.