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Organic Foods - Are BENEFITS Hyped or Inadequate!

Friday, August 13, 2010
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How are organic foods different from conventional foods?
Organic foods are made in a way that limits the use of synthetic additives/ fertilizers during production. Conventional foods are loaded with chemicals, drugs, hormones, and may also be genetically modified having deleterious effects on our body. Organic foods on the other hand also consistently contain one third as many residues as compared to conventionally grown foods.

Do pesticide residues in conventional foods really matter?
Most of us have been exposed to these pesticides previously over the years. The chemical burden is likely to weaken our immune systems and could be a cause for recurrent episodes of illness and infections. Pregnant women are most vulnerable to pesticide stress due to their already taxed organs. Pesticides are transferred to the growing fetus, and also through breast milk during lactation. Exposure to chemicals early on can cause developmental delays, behavioral disorders and motor dysfunction.

Is organic food more nutritious?
Research by European Commission (2009) confirms that organic foods differ considerably from conventional foods. Organic foods have higher levels of vitamins, mineral, antioxidants and essential fatty acids. The protein content might be low but is more easily absorbed by the body. The content of nutritionally undesirable compounds as heavy metals, toxins, residues and Salmonella shedding in livestock is minimal. In the long run, it definitely contributes to better immunity and improved health status.

 

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User Comments

17 August, 2010 | Rajani | Reply

Rajani I feel if we buy veggies and fruits from the local market, clean and store them properly and use them before they are stale should be fine. Eating a clean and nutritious dense meal should be given more importance than organic foods.

17 August, 2010 | Kanika Jain | Reply

Kanika Jain Dear Rajani,
Cleaning and storing veggies and fruits properly and using them before they get stale are definitely good steps that one can ensure at home level.But one cannot be sure of what kind of chemicals these are being exposed to before they make way to our homes.For instance,few weeks back there was article in one the leading newspapers on how oxytocin is being used indiscriminately by farmers.Blindly using such chemicals on veggies or fruits by them will surely affect our health in some way or the other in the long run.

Thanks and regards,
Kanika Jain
Dietitian
NutritionVista

17 August, 2010 | Poonam Vaswani | Reply

Poonam Vaswani Hello Rajani,
You are absolutely right about buying clean, fresh vegetables and preventing them from going stale. These steps will ensure that your food is free of micro organisms, thus hygienic. Fresh fruits and vegetables will retain their nutrients too, but, here the concern is of harmful chemicals which are added to crops and the health implications of consuming these chemicals over a long period of time.

16 August, 2010 | Vijayalakshmi | Reply

Vijayalakshmi Hello Usha
Yes there are /maybe people who will pay money for falsification of information, but there are many honest producers.So it takes some effort to identify them, to sift the wheat from the chaff to to say.On another note recent reports on the amount of pesticides added to vegetables and fruit produce is absolutely shocking. People are in a quandary to eat or not to eat fresh produce. Either which way it could harm you.To that extent, even if a farmer is not 100% honest about organic produce we can be sure it will be way way lower than those in the commercial market and health wise people will benefit.

16 August, 2010 | Usha Antony | Reply

Usha Antony Honestly how organic is organic? I heard a lot of farmers pay money to get that certification in India and charge people more for the same fruit & vegetable produce which would cost less in the local market.Is that true?

14 August, 2010 | Sujani | Reply

Sujani Where are organic vegetables available in bangalore? Greens esp. - Namdhari's says they don't use pesticides but I doubt.

16 August, 2010 | Geetanjali Kelkar | Reply

Geetanjali Kelkar Namdhari has a few products that are organic. But there are many other brands available in Bangalore like Navadardhanam that sell a range of products other than vegetables. Check out HAL market that sells produce from farmers.

16 August, 2010 | Sujatha | Reply

Sujatha If they claim not to be using pesticides then it should be true. A brand like Namdhari's cannot and should not make false claims.

Lookout for farmer's market. Usually they grow produce like tomato, carrot and greens and sell on daily basis.

14 August, 2010 | Poonam | Reply

Poonam It certainly is a good idea to eat organic foods if you can afford them. I have carried out food safety testing on a variety of food products and almost every single food product that was tested contained some amount of organochlorine pesticides like DDT, BHC etc (even though they are banned for use in foods). The residue was higher in high fat foods. They get absorbed by the fat molecules in food and then get stored in fat cells in the body and can cause serious diseases over a period of time. The increase in the incidence of cancer can also be attributed to a large extent to the use of such pesticides.

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