Health value of organic fruits
and veggies up for debate
February 1, 2005
By Susan Atteberry Smith
Advocates say foods grown without chemicals are healthier;
others contend evidence is lacking.
Wes Browning doesn't need a study to tell him that
business is looking up.
Last summer, all the owner of Stone Cottage Organics
in Ash Grove had to do was take a look at the number
of customers waiting to buy his organically grown fruits
and berries at the Greater Springfield Farmers' Market.
"By the end of the summer, we had lines,"
Browning said. "One woman, who was battling cancer,
said she wanted to get the purest food possible."
Browning is among a growing number of certified organic
farmers in the state who are emerging to meet a consumer
demand for organic fruits, vegetables, beef, poultry,
eggs and dairy products, according to Sue Baird, coordinator
for the Missouri Department of Agriculture's organic
program.
In general, organic farming does not allow synthetic
ingredients and/or chemicals in crop production, and
prohibits the use of antibiotics or hormones in livestock
production. Organic farmers also try to use nonchemical
methods to manage pests and increase soil fertility.
According to the National Organic Standards Board,
"Organic agriculture is an ecological production
management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity,
biological cycles and soil biological activity. ...
Organic agriculture practices cannot ensure that products
are completely free of residues; however, methods are
used to minimize pollution from air, soil and water.
... The primary goal of organic agriculture is to optimize
the health and productivity of interdependent communities
of soil life, plants, animals and people."
As Baird sees it, "people are just beginning to
demand good food and local foods, so organic just fits
the bill."
Despite the higher demand for organic, whether this
type of food is more healthful than conventionally produced
foods remains a subject of contention among producers,
grocers, food and plant specialists — and anyone
else who isn't afraid to join a debate that is often
politically charged.
Not all convinced
"There are more and more studies showing that
organically produced produce may have increased amounts
of carotenes and antioxidants because of how it's produced,"
said Rex Dufour, a manager for the National Center for
Appropriate Technology, a nonprofit sustainable agriculture
project in Davis, Calif. "It's a result of the
way the plants are grown."
A Cornell University study published in a 2001 issue
of the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
found that organic crops — compared with crops
grown using synthetic materials — contained significantly
more vitamin C, iron, magnesium and phosphorus yet significantly
lower levels of nitrates. Organic crops were also found
to have lower levels of heavy metals than conventional
crops.
In 2003, a University of California-Davis food scientist
comparing organically and conventionally grown corn,
strawberries and marionberries found higher levels of
antioxidants in the organic produce.
And another study — this one by scientists from
the independent research group Organic Materials Review
Institute and the Consumers Union, the publisher of
Consumer Reports magazine — analyzed data on pesticide
residues of more than 94,000 organic and non-organic
food samples from at least 20 different crops tested
over a decade. U.S. Department of Agriculture data used
in the 2002 study showed that 73 percent of conventional
produce had at least one pesticide residue, while only
23 percent of organic samples of the same crops contained
residues.
Susan Farbin, co-owner of Mama Jean's Natural Food
Market, was only half-joking recently as she explained
one reason she prefers organic foods.
"I usually try to avoid anything that ends with
'cide' — pesticide, herbicide, homicide,"
said Farbin, who stocks many organic products at her
Springfield store.
Yet area food and plant specialists are serious when
they say they don't have enough evidence to say the
organic way is more healthful. Even the U.S. Department
of Agriculture, on its National Organic Program Web
site, "makes no claims that organically produced
food is safer or more nutritious than conventionally
produced food."
As far as nutrients are concerned, licensed dietitian
Tammy Roberts thinks more about how fresh fruits and
vegetables are handled than about whether they're produced
organically or conventionally.
"We used to always recommend fresh fruits and
vegetables as being more nutrient-dense," said
the University of Missouri Extension nutrition and health
education specialist, "but we don't do that anymore
because of the way fresh fruits and vegetables are handled.
Sometimes frozen (foods) have better nutrients, if (fresh)
fruits and vegetables have been stored in the back of
a truck for a month."
And CoxHealth licensed dietitian Donna Skelly won't
promote organic food until she sees a control-group
study that links such a diet to health benefits.
"Dietitians believe there are no studies to support
that (organic food) is more healthy for you than non-organic
food," said Skelly, who directs CoxHealth's dietetics
program.
And, she added, "there are no studies that show
that pesticides in fruits and vegetables have caused
cancer."
Federal laws safeguard the public against overexposure
to pesticides, said Tom Hansen, agronomy specialist
for University of Missouri Extension. These "tolerance
standards," which limit pesticide residue on crops
to so many parts per million, are set by the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection
Agency.
Growers are also prohibited from selling crops before
the end of a "preharvest interval" —
a period following pesticide application. Preharvest
intervals vary depending on the pesticide: Some pesticides
break down in as little as a day, Hansen said. Others
take several months.
"Some are degraded by bacteria; some have a chemical
breakdown," he said. "Some of them even break
down in sunlight."
The law has teeth, too. If growers fail to follow the
preharvest interval guidelines given on pesticide labels,
Hansen said, they could be subject to strict penalties,
including mandatory destruction of the harvested crop.
In his view, the public should be more concerned about
pesticide residues on crops imported from South America,
for example, where DDT — a toxic pesticide banned
in the United States in 1972 — is still used to
control pest
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