Are Organic Foods More Nutritious than Conventional Foods?

1. Are Organic Foods More Nutritious than Conventional Foods? Created by Kasey Mixon Georgia Agriculture Education Curriculum Office July, 2003

2. Objectives • Define “organic foods” • Introduce the issue • Look at research • Answer: Why isn’t there sufficient research? • Conclude

3. Organic Food • USDA: • emphasize use of renewable resources • conservation of soil and water • no conventional pesticides, fertilizers with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge • no bioengineering • no ionizing radiation

4. Organic Farming • been around for decades • during past decade *became fastest growing sector in ag. *annual increase = 20% or more

5. Organic Agriculture • controversial claims • one such claim: organic is more nutritious than conventional • is this true? is there proof?

6. Is This True? • The Soil Association says so: *Vitamin C *minerals *phytonutrients *less water • That sounds good, doesn’t it?

7. Is There Proof? • Alex Avery & Dennis Avery (Hudson Institute) say: *the organic industry is attempting to promote their products by degrading the foods that “made Americans taller, stronger, and longer-lived than any people in history” & there just isn’t enough evidence to prove their claims.

8. What Does Research Conclude? • Virginia Worthington, M.S., Sc.D., C.N.S., examined all of the 41 research studies on this issue • compiled data • calculated % difference between organic and conventional values for 35 vitamins and minerals

9. Worthington’s Study • Formula used: organic value – conventional value conventional value X 100

10. Worthington’s Results • Organic crops were: • Higher in: • Vitamin C • Iron • Magnesium • Phosphorus • Lower in: • Nitrates

11. Nutrient Content of Organic Versus Conventional Crops: Mean % Difference (Worthington, 2001)

12. Worthington’s Comments • no extensive research conducted to determine what health effects may result from the difference in nutrient contents: “if people stayed well on an organic diet but got violently ill as a result of consuming food grown with chemical fertilizers, then the difference would be perfectly obvious; however, that is not the case”

13. Worthington’s Comments • more research needed • great amount of variability in agricultural measurements • fertilizing methods, sunlight, temperature, rainfall, shipping and storage handling

14. More Research • Consumer Reports – researchers cannot give the nutritional edge to either group • variability in crop or cropping system? • report included quote from Willie Lockeretz, professor at Tufts University School of Nutrition and Science Policy: “the growing system you use probably does affect nutrition, but it does it in a way so complex you might be studying the problem forever”

15. Organic Farming Research Foundation • the definitive study has not been done • why? too many variables to control • like what? • crop variety • time after harvest • post-harvest handling • soil type • climate

16. The Soil Association • Organic foods have higher levels of: • Vitamin C, minerals, phytonutrients • less water • makes a real difference to people’s and animal’s health • good results for alternative cancer therapies • no proof of research for these claims

17. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) • non committal on the issue • “USDA makes no claims that organically produced food is safer or more nutritious than conventionally produced food” • why? not enough research, most likely

18. Other Journal and Magazine Articles • Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter on this issue: • “no one knows” • “We just don’t have enough data” Kate Clancey, PhD of the Henry Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture

19. Other Articles • Andrea Chernus, MD, RN, CDN: “there is no scientific proof that someone eating a well-balanced organic diet is healthier than a person eating a well-balanced conventional diet”

20. Other Articles • Sir John Krebs, Chair of the United Kingdom’s Foods Standards Agency: “the current scientific evidence does not show that organic food is any safer or more nutritious than conventionally produced food”

21. Other Articles • Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics: “under the basic standards of organic farming, there is no sufficient evidence for a system-related effect on product quality due to the production method” (Lotter, 2003)

22. Other Articles • Journal of Sustainable Agriculture: “many of the health claims for organic products remain unresolved”(Ding, Wang, Xie, & Yang, 2003)

23. Why Such Little Research? • several parts to this answer • organic farming just recently experiencing significant growth • Sales: • 1990 - $1 billion • 1996 - $3.3 billion • 2000 - $7.8 billion

24. Growth • Acreage: • more than doubled between 1992-1997 • more than doubled again between 1997-2001 The following table shows the changes by individual years

25. US Certified Organic Farmland in 1,000 of acres (Green & Kremen, 2002)

27. Why Such Little Research? • Increased demand = recognition of a need for more research • What do you need in order to conduct research? • FUNDS!

28. U.S. Research Funding • 1999 = $1.4 million • 2000 = $3.6 million • Funding is growing, so answers should come

29. U.S. Research Funding

30. Why Such Little Research? • Such a complex issue with many different parts needing to be researched • Hard to perform a fair comparison and analysis between the two systems

31. SO…. • Organic is most likely here to stay • We need answers to the many questions about it, so…. • MORE RESEARCH NEEDS TO BE CONDUCTED!

32. What Have You Learned – Hopefully? • What an organic food product is • The issue = organic vs. conventional, is there a nutritional difference? • What research says & why there is so little

33. Any Questions?