Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Leading a healthy lifestyle ain't that easy...

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slinky
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Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Post by slinky » 30th Jul, '09, 18:14

Organic food is no healthier, study finds

Can't say I've ever bought organic stuff here, given that it usually costs 3-4 times the price of 'regular.' It would be interesting to read their study.

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Re: Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Post by Morrolan » 31st Jul, '09, 06:32

not surprising really...

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Re: Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Post by Tas » 31st Jul, '09, 08:20

I've always said that people get the issues confused around organic food!! There are two points of debate

(1) Organic farming principles.

(2) Food value.


On the first issue I'm very open to the farming values - from what I can gather a number of intensive farming practices have been detrimental overall to the soils itself, surrounds, and diversity of foodstuff/stocks. I personally think there is some really interesting science behind organic farming principles and there's some clever stuff in there. And overall the life cycle benefits of organic farming practices and impact on the soil and the farming surrounds etc will/do prove themselves.

On the nutritional issue, I've never been convinced. I do believe in diet management. I do think there are potentially issues around food contamination with intensive farming practices. But assuming intensive farmed foods are on a level playing field in terms of being clean on the surface - then if a balanced diet is practiced you will get what you need. Once you've chomped it all up, and the digestive juices have had a crack, you're basically left with the broken down components for your body to use - and so long as the right mix, and concentrations are there, you can get them from organic farmed or intensive farmed foods.

One question, as I didn't read the article - was the article focused only on fruit/veg, or did it also include meats and fats ?
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Re: Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Post by slinky » 31st Jul, '09, 08:27

Tas, you make a good point about soil conservation in farming & I agree that's probably the most valuable thing about organic. I've certainly never been convinced the difference in price was worth it on a nutritional level - at least for fruit/veg - I don't know enough about organic meat to have much of an opinion.

The article is pretty short & not terribly specific (so, if I ever get around to it, I might look for the detailed article that was in a medical journal that it refers to) but I think they are only talking about fruit/veg.

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Re: Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Post by Pinklepurr » 31st Jul, '09, 08:34

I always thought it was only about the farming techniques etc. Do they market it as more nutritional or something?
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Re: Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Post by Lili Von Shtupp » 31st Jul, '09, 08:41

There have been articles that claim organic is more nutritional, but even those articles I felt couldn't show enough of a difference to make it worth the money for us. I was also of the opinion that the main reason to go organic was to preserve the health of soils and water tables, etc. However, I have also read that organic farming is big business, and any kind of commercial farm, organic or not, is going to give the earth a beating.
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Re: Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Post by Burbage » 31st Jul, '09, 08:43

All food is organic, otherwise you wouldn't be able to eat it.

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Re: Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Post by daffodil » 31st Jul, '09, 09:06

The theory is also that it tastes better and I believe some items do - salad mix for example.

Not sure that I could tell the difference between organically grown versus ordinary garlic though!
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Re: Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Post by Morrolan » 31st Jul, '09, 10:19

daffodil wrote:Not sure that I could tell the difference between organically grown versus ordinary garlic though!
your wallet will, though... :P

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Re: Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Post by Fat Bob » 31st Jul, '09, 10:53

Burbage wrote:All food is organic, otherwise you wouldn't be able to eat it.
Salt is a food stuff. It ain't organic. [smilie=tease.gif]
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Re: Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Post by azzam » 31st Jul, '09, 11:14

If I buy organic, it's usually because I think that it takes away any risk of me eating pesticide residue. Whether that's realistic or not, I'm not sure. But I am hoping that by doing that I avoid a few of the nasty chems and food contamination scares that come out of certain places. I can't say I notice a difference taste wise, it's all been too long on the shelves anyway. But man, when you can eat home-grown or straight from the farm...that's when I taste it. One of the joys of my time in Germany. I am one of those strange people who enjoys the taste of veggies, so I really noticed it. Even cabbage tasted yummy!
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Re: Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Post by Burbage » 31st Jul, '09, 12:57

Fat Bob wrote:
Burbage wrote:All food is organic, otherwise you wouldn't be able to eat it.
Salt is a food stuff. It ain't organic. [smilie=tease.gif]
Eat my shorts.

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Re: Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Post by Fat Bob » 31st Jul, '09, 13:46

Will do, Bartage!
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Re: Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Post by azzam » 31st Jul, '09, 13:50

Eeeuwww. Way too organic
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Re: Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Post by Kooky » 31st Jul, '09, 19:02

I think, on a nutritional level, it's far more important to "eat local" than to eat organic. When all your produce has to be imported, it's more beneficial to eat frozen veg than it is fresh. I read some stuff about just how old it is by the time you get it but can't remember off hand.

(Yes Singapore, I'm talking about you and those constantly mouldy strawberries.)

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Re: Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Post by Lili Von Shtupp » 31st Jul, '09, 20:07

Kooky wrote:(Yes Singapore, I'm talking about you and those constantly mouldy strawberries.)
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Re: Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Post by cromasaig » 1st Aug, '09, 06:47

Yep, nutritional value is, I seem to remember, determined most by the time between harvesting and consuming (and also how whether it's raw/cooked of course).

I tend not to buy organic here, mainly because A) I can't justify the cost and B) I'm not convinced of how closely regulated the labelling and supply chain are, ie, I wouldn't bet that it's all actually organic.

Can't wait to start growing more of my own veg and getting back to farm shops etc. Azz, you've made my day.

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Re: Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Post by Lili Von Shtupp » 1st Aug, '09, 13:14

BTW - Green Circle is an organic farm in Singapore, out Lim Chu Kang way. My little family spent the morning out there about a year ago, amid the hippies, insects and weeds. Very nice people. If you check their website they do weekly deliveries around Singapore, but alas it's once a week and back to the old argument about time of harvest v chemicals used with regards to nutritional value. It's just not practical for us, but maybe for someone else interested?
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Re: Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Post by Dinosaur » 1st Aug, '09, 16:33

Before I left the UK, some years ago, I had a veggie plot and grew potatoes, onions, courgettes, tomatoes, all sorts of stuff and the produce really did use to taste better than the supermarket produce - like K said, fresher I guess. Nothing really that I did I'm sure as I just bunged the stuff in the ground and watered it, nothing else. Bloody hard work though.

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Re: Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Post by azzam » 2nd Aug, '09, 07:38

cromasaig wrote:
Can't wait to start growing more of my own veg and getting back to farm shops etc. Azz, you've made my day.
We love to poke fun, but there are lots of things they do right and eating is one of them - at least, they did where I was.

One nice memory is cabbage harvest time :-)

Tripping off to the organic cabbage farm, I couldn't understand why we had washing baskets with us. We went inside a huge old wooden barn and it was jam packed with people. You queue up to choose your cabbages - ginormous ones, round and pointy ones. Then, you queue up at the machine where they wash and slice them up. And that's where the washing baskets come in. We went home with three baskets full of farm fresh, organic, shredded cabbage. Then, once home, I helped layer it all into a pottery barrel with salt and juniper berries. The Sauerkraut that came out of that a few weeks later would put hairs on your chest.
Similar stuff with the late apple harvest - home and into barrels for organic cider.
Plums straight off the trees, layered and baked on sweet pastry
Freshly picked peas in your salad
Driving to Austria and up into the alps for fresh mountain cheese, straight from the farmer

Any Germans getting homesick yet?

And we haven't started talking afternoons packed into warm cafes when it was snowing outside, weird festivals where they dress in wood spirt costumes and frighten little children :-)

I really enjoyed Germany, Croma. I envy you!

edit: I learnt how to make it, but I still can't spell it
Last edited by azzam on 2nd Aug, '09, 07:43, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Post by Dinosaur » 2nd Aug, '09, 10:56

maybe start a Germany thread?

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Re: Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Post by azzam » 2nd Aug, '09, 13:18

I'd just bore everyone again :-) Spent days doing it a couple of years ago. Hey, you could retire there PK!
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Re: Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Post by Dinosaur » 2nd Aug, '09, 13:31

azzam wrote: Hey, you could retire there PK!
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Re: Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Post by Bender » 2nd Aug, '09, 15:13

Germany... memories of the aroma of coffee, cake and smoke wafting out of coffeeshops, gazing at the Konditorei window displays, awesome delis, and beer. mmmmm.
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Re: Study Shows Organic Food is no Healthier

Post by cromasaig » 2nd Aug, '09, 16:04

Well, since I'm now into packing everything up and saying goodbye to friends, all this is a big help right now. It's all starting to seem a bit, well, real...

And yes, I need a Germany sub-board please for when I need to rant!

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