Should you buy organic food? It has been a debate for quiet sometime now whether organic food is a better choice for you or not. Well one thing is for sure that going for organic products is definitely better for your health and for the environment. If you buy organic food which is free from all kinds of harmful chemicals and is full of nutrients it ensures better health and a better future for the generations to come.
We have compiled for you 10 reasons why you should choose organic foods and hopefully by the end of it, it will remove any doubts in your mind about organic food.
FREE FROM HARMFUL CHEMICALS
When you eat organically produced foods you save yourself from all the chemical poisons that are present in commercially produced foods. In America more than 600 active chemicals are registered for the agricultural use. These chemicals tune up to billions of pounds annually and the average application equals to around 16 pounds of chemical pesticides per person in a year. The alarming part is that many of these pesticides had been approved by the Environmental Protection Agency EPA before the extensive diet testing.
90 percent of these chemicals had not been tested for the long term health effects before they were labeled “safe” according to the reports of the National Academy of Sciences. Furthermore the FDA does tests on only 1 percent of the foods for any pesticide residue. The most toxic and dangerous pesticides need special testing methods which are hardly ever done by the FDA.
CONTAINS MORE NUTRIENTS
Food that has been grown organically has more nutrients in it like vitamins, enzymes, micronutrients and minerals as compared to the food grown commercially as organic food is grown in soil that is nourished and managed with sustainable methods. A review of 41 published studies was conducted by the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine comparing the nutritional value of food that was grown organically with the nutritional value of food grown commercially which included fruits, grains and vegetables and the conclusion they drew out of it was that are significantly more nutrients in organic food.
Furthermore the study showed that five servings of vegetables like spinach, potatoes, lettuce, carrots and cabbage provided an adequate amount of vitamin C on the other hand equal servings of commercially grown vegetables do not do that.
On an average organic food provide 21.1 percent more iron, 27 percent more vitamin C, 29.3 percent more magnesium and 13.6 percent more phosphorus than their conventional types.
TASTE BETTER
There is no doubt in the fact that organically grown foods taste much better because they are grown in well nourished and well balanced soil as a result the plants are strong and healthy. This is true especially for the heirloom varieties, which are produced rather for taste than appearance.
FREE FROM GMO
Our food supply is being contaminated by genetically engineered GE food and genetically modified organisms GMO at an alarming rate, with their after-effects that are beyond understanding. In America GMO foods do not need to be labeled. As organic foods cannot be genetically altered and modified in any way, choosing them is the only way you can make sure that what you are eating is not genetically engineered.
FREE FROM HORMONES, ANTIBIOTICS AND DRUGS IN ANIMAL PRODUCTS
The most highly risked foods among the conventional foods for contamination by harmful substances are the conventional dairy and meat. More than 90 percent of the pesticides consumed by the Americans are found in the tissue and fat of the meat and dairy products.
Majority of the pesticide intake comes from the meat, fish, poultry, eggs and dairy products, EPA reports. The reason is that cows, pigs and chicken are all fed animal parts, fish meal, by products and grains that are loaded with toxins and chemicals. These toxins and chemicals get accumulated in the fatty tissue of the animal therefore low fat animal products are less dangerous.
Drugs, growth hormones and antibiotics are also passed into the dairy products and meat directly. Every year millions of pounds of antibiotics are used in animal feed. In United States 70 percent of the antibiotics that is produced is fed to animals for non therapeutic purposes, this has been estimated by the union of concerned scientists. Cattle have been given growth and sex hormones by the US farmers to increase the quantity of milk and meat artificially without giving them any extra feed. These hormones cannot be broken down even when cooked at high temperatures thus they remain intact completely and are passed directly in the consumer’s diet when they eat meat.
The biggest concern that is concerned with dairy products, beef and farmed fish is the hormone supplements. In United States the jury has not yet decided on this but Europe’s scientific community agree on the fact that there is no acceptable safe level for the intake on daily basis, of the hormones that are being currently used in US. Therefore they have banned all the growth hormones.
The major concerns due to these hormones for the US consumers are early onset of puberty, high cancer risk, genetic problems and growth of tumors. Growth hormones present in the milk like rBST or rBGH are modified genetically and are linked to cancer directly, especially in women.
It has been warned by many experts and scientists that the rampant use of antibiotics in the feed of animals such as tetracycline and penicillin will lead to an epidemic that medicine would not be able to defend.
Choosing animal products that are organically produced is better for you and for the animals.
PRESERVE OUR ECOSYSTEM
Organic farming works in harmony with the nature. The preservation of crop and soil rotation keeps the farmland healthy and due to the absence of chemicals it preserves the ecosystem. In the tapestry of ecology the insects, birds, frogs, wildlife and soil organisms are all able to play their roles and we can play ours without any compromise and interference.
REDUCES POLLUTION AND PROTECTS SOIL AND WATER
The chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides used in agriculture are contaminating the planet we live in and poisoning the water supplies that we depend on and are destroying the value of our fertile farmland. In organic farming the certified organic standards used do not permit the use of any toxic chemicals in farming and requires the responsible management of biodiversity and healthy soil.
It has been estimated that the pesticides that are applied in farming, only 0.1 percent of them reach the target pests the rest of 99 percent is left to impact our environment.
PRESERVES AGRICULTURE DIVERSITY
Our major environmental concern today is the rampant loss of the species. It has been estimated that in the last century 75 percent of the genetic diversity of agricultural crops have been lost. Just leaning on one or two varieties of a given food heavily has been the formula for devastation. For example the current marketplace is dominated by only a handful of potato varieties but there were once thousands of varieties available.
If you turn back and see the potato famine in recent history that happened in Ireland, in which blight destroyed the whole crop. Although this consisted of just a few varieties, millions of people died due to starvation. Most of the industrial farms today grow only one crop on a piece of land rather than growing an array of crops.
In organic agriculture crop rotation technique is used. This technique is not only simple but is also very effective in reducing the need of pesticides and improves the fertility of the soil.
The most conventional types of foods are hybridized to extremes in order to produce large and attractive specimens rather than producing various indigenous strains that are tolerant to regional conditions like pests and droughts.
Organic farms on the other hand grow a variety of food keeping the time tested tradition and natural elements in account. Diversity is critical for survival.
SUPPORT FARMING DIRECTLY
When you buy organic foods you invest your money in a cost effective future. In America the commercial and conventional farming is subsidized heavily with tax dollars. At Cornell University a study determined that the cost of a head of commercial iceberg lettuce grown commercially which can be purchased for just 49 cents a head is more than 3 dollars a head when the hidden costs were disclosed. The study stated that the hidden costs were of the pesticide regulation and testing, hazardous waste and its clean-up and federal subsidies.
American tax dollars subsidize billions of dollars every year for the farm bill which favors the commercial agriculture business heavily. The price tags on these commercially grown foods cannot be accurately measured but it does include many detrimental costs associated with them like environmental damage, health issues and the loss of wildlife and ecology.
ORGANIC FOOD IS SAFER
Organic farming has many advantages to it. It helps in generating jobs and produces more profits. It does not pollute the ground water with nitrogen run off. It also does not have any risks that are associated with genetically modified crops. But the main reason why people have started eating organic food is because it is believed by them to be safer.
Farmers in Nebraska, Canada and Kansas who use pesticide 2, 4-D, have a higher rate of suffering from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma which is a type of cancer. Exposure to the phenoxy herbicides shows the risk of contracting lymphomas by six folds, in Sweden. In the rural farming areas of US, the death rates from myeloma a type of cancer are the highest.
Organic farming does not involve toxic pesticides and herbicides and therefore does not have these risks. So to stay healthy and to protect our future and the future of the generations to come we must choose for organic foods.
