Australian Healthy Food Guide — November 2017

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16 healthyfoodguide.com.au

Organic food is served up with a health and

nutrition halo priced in. How do the claims

stack up against conventional produce?

T

he organic food industry

is big business. Fuelled by

strong consumer demand

based on health, environmental

and ethical concerns, it is very

much on-trend to ‘go organic’.

To choose organic produce

as a result of its nutritional

superiority would be a great

move. The problem is there

is not a lot of strong scientific

evidence to say that it actually

offers that advantage.

Nutrient levels in foods vary

for all sorts of reasons. Growing

region, rainfall, time of year for

harvest and storage time after

harvest all drastically affect

nutrient levels. We still need

a lot of research work to get a

clear picture of whether organic

food has more nutritional value

than its conventional cousin.

SCIENCE UPDATE

Dr Tim Crowe is an Advanced

Accredited Practising Dietitian and

nutrition research scientist. Connect

with him at thinkingnutrition.com.au

Photo: iStock.

What the science says

A systematic review published in 2012 concluded

there was a lack of strong evidence that organic

foods were significantly more nutritious than

conventional foods. Nor could the review find any

extra health benefits or protection against allergic

disease or bacterial infection from eating organic.

Fast forward to 2014, when a review discovered

organic crops did have higher levels of antioxidants

than conventional ones. However, most of the other

nutrients tested for showed no difference. When you

consider organic produce’s price premium, eating a

little more conventional produce in the first place

could easily make up for the antioxidant difference.

Worried about pesticides?

When consumers choose organic food, the absence

of synthetic pesticides is often high on their health

radar. Too much of any pesticide residue on food is

harmful. Thankfully, levels in Australia are monitored

and kept within very safe levels. Washing and peeling

food before eating can reduce residues even more.

But surely, you might say, it’s better to choose

organic and be pesticide free? Not so fast. Organic

food is only free from synthetic pesticides. Although

certified organic, such produce can still be grown

with the use of naturally occurring pesticides, like

pyrethrins, light oils, copper and sulphur — and

even some types of pesticide-producing bacteria.

All these natural pesticides are just as harmful to

us in high enough doses as synthetic pesticides

IS ORGANIC FOOD

healthier?