Are organic foods healthier?

If you’ve gone into a grocery store, you’ve likely seen organic foods. They often have their own separate section, with all organic foods together. Fruits and vegetables are the ones people are most familiar with, but you can get organic milk, meat and even cookies and ice cream. They often cost more than conventionally grown foods. And the main reason people buy them is for their health. But are organic foods healthier?

What is an organic food?

As applied to food, ‘organic’ refers to the avoidance of synthetic pesticides, herbicides and fertilizer. The term has been around for 100 years with countries establishing certification programs in the 1980s/90s. In the past 20 years, the organic food industry has grown more than seven-fold and it’s expected to continue to grow.

Naming a food ‘organic’ is a bit misleading. The word organic refers to living matter. Or in chemistry, it refers to molecules containing carbon. By both these definitions, all foods are organic. There’s no such thing as a non-organic food. But this segment of the agricultural industry has used the word to distinguish this type of agriculture from conventional methods.

To get foods USDA certified as organic, it must have been grown free of synthetic pesticides, herbicides or fertilizer for the past three years. Pesticides (and other chemicals) can still be used in organic farming, they just have to be naturally produced. For livestock, they must be fed with organic feed, have access to outdoors year-round and no antibiotics or added hormones. Food must also be free from genetic engineering.

It doesn’t mean that a food not certified has been grown with all of these agents. Most dairy farms in the US have stopped using growth hormone in their cattle. In Canada, synthetic growth hormone is not allowed. In Europe, the use of growth hormones (even natural) is banned. And as there is a cost to certification, small farms may actually adhere to organic requirements but just can’t afford to be certified.

Are organic foods healthier?

The majority of people who buy organic foods do so for health reasons and believe they’re healthier. Some studies have indicated organic foods have higher concentrations of antioxidants. And overall micronutrients may be higher in organic foods but only by 5.7%. However, not all studies have come to the same conclusion, with many reporting no differences in nutrients. What makes this research challenging is that nutrient content in the same food can differ based on the variety of the plant and the conditions its grown in.

How does this translate to long-term health? Eating organic foods have been associated with lower chances of getting obesity and type 2 diabetes, and higher male sperm quality. The relationship with cancer is less clear with studies indicating no benefit of eating organic foods. However, organic food may be linked to a lower chance of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Complicating these studies is that people who eat organic foods are more invested in their health and tend to eat more fruits and vegetables anyway, which may account for any notable differences in health. These consumers also have higher incomes and people with higher incomes have better long-term health anyway.

But people also buy organic foods for what they’re not getting (synthetic pesticides, GMO food) over what they may be getting (more nutrients). It’s clear that organic foods have fewer residual pesticides and some heavy metals. And it’s believed that less exposure to certain pesticides may have a health benefit. In addition, there may be added risk to farm workers who are exposed to synthetic pesticides for developing certain conditions like Parkinson’s disease and possibly some cancers.

What about the environment?

Whether organic food is better for the environment is a point of much debate. And it depends on which measure you look at. It’s generally acknowledged that the land on which the organic foods are grown results in less environmental damage. There’s also less run-off of pollutants into the environment. In addition, organic farming enhances biodiversity.

In recent years, research has looked at greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) of organic and conventional farming. Organic farming results in less crop yield per land area and commonly requires a land buffer zone to prevent contamination from adjacent farms. This means to get the same amount of food, organic farming needs more land. Clearing more land for agriculture can reduce land available for holding in carbon. Some studies have indicated lower GHG emissions, while others have found no difference or greater emissions from organic agriculture.

In many parts of the world, it may not make sense to work towards 100% of foods grown organically due to the greater land use. In the UK it’s been calculated that greenhouse gas emissions would increase if 100% of food was organic. This is because there wouldn’t be enough land to grow food for the population and any lower emissions from organic methods would be offset by needing to import more food overseas. This study highlights, that when it comes to GHG emissions, it may be just as important how far the food has travelled as how it was grown.

Other Considerations

Organic foods also come at a higher cost than conventional foods. This is due to the costs of certification and the need for more land and labour to grow these foods. For example, without using a herbicide, weeds may need to be removed by hand. For some people, the higher cost may not matter, but being cost efficient is a reality for many people.

An alternative to buying organic vegetables is to grow them yourself. Tomatoes, beans and peas are easily grown in backyards, in pots on balconies or in community gardens. They usually taste better as you can leave them on the plant until you’re ready to eat. Produce in the store is often picked before ripening to allow it to ripen during travel.

When it comes to health, most would benefit more from eating more fruits and vegetables regardless of how they’re grown than by switching to organic.

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