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Nutritional Differences Between Organic and Conventional Foods . Author: Linda C. Mejia. Nutrient Content of Organic vs. Conventional C rops.
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Nutritional Differences Between Organic and Conventional Foods Author: Linda C. Mejia
Nutrient Content of Organic vs. Conventional Crops • Nutrient Content of Organic Versus Conventional Crops: Mean Percent Difference, Level Significance, Number of Comparison, And Number of Studies for Statistically Significant Nutrients • Nutrient Mean% difference • _________________________________________________________________________ • Vitamin C +27.0 • Iron +21.1 • Magnesium +29.3 • Phosphorus +13.6 • Nitrates -15.1 • _________________________________________________________________________ • Plus ad minus signs refer to conventional crops as the baseline for comparison. For example, vitamin C is 27.0% more abundant in the organic crop (conventional 100%, organic 127%). A comparison consists from the same season, for example, 0.30 mg of zinc in organic
Summary of Results from 10 Animal Studies:Comparisons of Organic with Conventional Feed • Higher ovum production in rabbits (6 versus 3 eggs per dam) & chickens (192 versus 150 eggs per hen). • Impact on Reproduction • Female sales: Testes in better condition in mice; sperm motility greater • Young: Fewer perinatal deaths & other deaths prior to weaning in rabbits (mortality rate of 27% versus 51%) in mice (mortality rate of 9% versus 17%) and rats • Overall: Fertility rate of rabbits remained constant over 3 generations in organically fed rabbits and declined in rabbits fed conventionally produced feed • Impact on Weight Maintenance & Growth • Lower percentage weight loss (22.4% versus 37.4%) & longer survival (50 versus 33 days) in birds with polyneuritis. • Better weight maintenance in lactating female rats. • Higher percentage weight gain in young rats (77% versus 51.4%) and in chickens. • Better weight gain after coccidial illness and fewer incidents of illness in chickens.
Differences in Nutritional Content between Organic and Conventional Vegetables • Differences in Nutritional Content between Organic and Conventional Vegetables Mean Percent Difference for Four Nutrients in Five Frequency Studies Vegetables • __________________________________________________________________ • Nutrient • __________________________________________________________________ • Vegetable Vitamin C Iron Magnesium Phosphorus • Lettuce +17 +17 +29 +14 • Spinach +52 +25 -13 +14 • Carrot -6 +12 +69 +13 • Potato +22 +21 +5 0 • Cabbage +43 +41 +40 +22
Distribution of Delta Among Organic and Conventional Beef Proteins