Organic food offers no better nutrient value than conventionally produced foods.
Organic food offers no better nutrient value than conventionally produced foods.
Despite growing consumer demand for organically produced foods, evidence of their nutritional quality is lacking. To assess the differences in nutritive value of organically and conventionally produced foodstuffs, researchers from Britain analysed 162 studies, which dealt with the nutrient content of foods, done over the past 50 years. Only 55 studies were considered by the researchers to be of "satisfactory quality" - a strong indicator that, overall, the science on the subject is not up to the mark.
On analysing the data, the researchers found that organic crops had higher levels of phosphorus while conventionally produced crops had higher levels of nitrogen.They found no differences between conventional and organic crops with regard to vitamin C, magnesium, calcium, potassium, zinc and copper content. No differences in nutrient content were indicated in the livestock studies, according to the review.
Moreover,the researchers noted that the small differences in nutrient content detected were biologically plausible and mostly related to differences in production methods.
The study indicates that organic and conventionally produced foods have about the same nutrient content, suggesting that neither is better in terms of health benefits.
Despite growing consumer demand for organically produced foods, evidence of their nutritional quality is lacking. To assess the differences in nutritive value of organically and conventionally produced foodstuffs, researchers from Britain analysed 162 studies, which dealt with the nutrient content of foods, done over the past 50 years. Only 55 studies were considered by the researchers to be of "satisfactory quality" - a strong indicator that, overall, the science on the subject is not up to the mark.
On analysing the data, the researchers found that organic crops had higher levels of phosphorus while conventionally produced crops had higher levels of nitrogen.They found no differences between conventional and organic crops with regard to vitamin C, magnesium, calcium, potassium, zinc and copper content. No differences in nutrient content were indicated in the livestock studies, according to the review.
Moreover,the researchers noted that the small differences in nutrient content detected were biologically plausible and mostly related to differences in production methods.
The study indicates that organic and conventionally produced foods have about the same nutrient content, suggesting that neither is better in terms of health benefits.
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