Organic food is extremely popular and everyone wants to know about its benefits. The sweeping public opinion that organic food is healthier than conventional food is quite strong and is the main reason for the increase in its demand over the past 5-6 years. Organic Facts is a strong proponent of organic food; however, this website also believes in putting across the most accurate facts to its visitors.
This article will explain what organic food is, how it is beneficial, and what are the standards for the same.
First of all, there is only a small amount of scientific evidence to show that organic food is better in quality than conventional food. Scientific research conducted thus far on various organic food items has not been able to give strong evidence about the superiority of organic food over non-organic food. This is more so because a bulk of scientific research is based on funding provided by the governments and industry.
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 varieties. Studies are also ongoing about a variety of other types of organic food that may have additional health benefits compared to the non-organic varieties.
Health Benefits Of Organic Food
In general, organic food consumers, manufacturers, and farmers strongly believe that organic food has the following benefits compared to conventional food.
(Picture showing an organic beverage, maple water, directly harvested from the maple trees during spring in Quebec, Canada. Maple water has no added preservatives and no sugar added. Everything you taste comes straight from the tree.)
Antioxidant Capacity
A number of studies have been completed regarding the effects of antioxidants from organic foods on overall health, and the predominant results have shown that antioxidants tend to have more of an impact when they come from organic foods. This may be due to the fact that foreign chemicals are not negatively interacting with the different vitamins, minerals, and organic compounds that are so essential for the positive impact of fruits and vegetables in the prevention of cancer, heart diseases, premature aging, vision problems, and cognitive malfunction. Recent research suggests that choosing organic food can lead to increased intake of nutritionally desirable antioxidants and reduced exposure to toxic heavy metals.
Pesticide Reduction
One of the major complaints that organic food consumers cite when choosing organic over non-organic is the presence of pesticides. In order to keep crops from being attacked by the natural world, including bugs, pesticides are required. Although they do a good job at keeping certain pests away from the crops, they also are composed of powerful chemicals like organophosphorus. This is an unnatural mineral compound that is not required by humans, but more than 80% of this material in our bodies comes from eating pesticide-coated foods. Organophosphorus has been connected to a number of developmental problems, including autism and ADHD, so organic food lovers do have a pretty strong argument in this case. To be fair, many people do choose to go organic to make sure that their children grow up healthy and unaffected by the toxins of the world during their developmental years.
Heart Health
An increased amount of time grazing on grass also increases the amounts of CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) that can be found in animal products. CLA is a heart-healthy fatty acid that can boost cardiovascular protection, and it is found in higher quantities in breast milk and in the meat of animals that have been raised free-range or cage-free.
Immune System Boost
In recent decades, one of the biggest projects for farmers and food growers has been a genetic modification. Making tomatoes six times larger might sound like a possible option for solving some world hunger issues, but there is another side to it. Genetic modification is still in its early stages, so the long-term effects of it on human health aren’t understood very well. In animal testing, genetically modified food showed a major reduction in immune system strength, an increase in birth mortality, as well as in certain sexual dysfunctions, cancers, and sensitivity to allergens. Although there are some good things about genetically modified food, organic food advocates point to the lack of concrete details about its long-term effects.
Antibiotic Resistance
People are very sensitive to issues of their health, and they often take precautions to make sure they remain healthy, like getting various vaccines and taking antibiotics as soon as a new strain of bacteria makes them ill. However, non-organic food sources, particularly livestock and feed houses, also use antibiotics to feed their animals. This extra dose of antibiotics may actually be weakening our immune system by basically overdosing on antibiotics, thereby reshaping it so many times that it will eventually be unable to defend itself. Organic food growers and dairy farmers do not use antibiotics in their processes.
Overall Health
Since organic food is not prepared using chemical fertilizers, it does not contain any traces of these strong chemicals and does not affect the human body in negative ways. Natural fertilizers, like manure, work perfectly fine, and organic farmers are happy to use this smellier, yet safer form of fertilizer.
Better Taste
Some people strongly believe that organic food tastes better than conventional food. The prominent reason for this belief is that it is produced using organic means of production. Furthermore, organic food is often sold locally, resulting in the availability of fresh produce in the market, which usually does taste better than produce that has been frozen, shipped, and transported across long distances.
Environmental Safety
As harmful chemicals are not used in organic farming, there is minimal soil, air, and water pollution; thus ensuring a safer and healthier world for future generations to live in.
(Voir https://www.organicfacts.net/organic-products/organic-food/health-benefits-of-organic-food.html)