Why it pays to buy organic Which apple? The decision doesn’t end once you’ve figured out whether to buy, say, the McIntosh or the Red Delicious. In many food stores, you’re also faced with the more vexing question of buying organic or conventional, and not just at the apple bin. All kinds of organic fruits, vegetables, meats, poultry, eggs, cooking oils, even cosmetics are crowding store shelves.
For many shoppers in this economic climate , the decision often comes down to money. On average, you’ll pay 20 to 30 percent extra for organic food, but you can easily end up shelling out 100 percent more, especially for milk and meat. Nevertheless, organic products are one of the fastest-growing categories in the food business. Nearly two-thirds of U.S. consumers bought organic foods and beverages in 2005, up from about half in 2004. While some buy organic to support its producers’ environmentally friendly practices, most are trying to cut their exposure to chemicals in the foods they eat. Critics argue that we’re wasting our money because there’s no proof that conventionally produced foods pose significant health risks. Now, however, there are many new reasons to buy organic.
First, a growing body of research shows that pesticides and other contaminants are more prevalent in the foods we eat, in our bodies, and in the environment than we thought.
A U.S. research team from Emory University in Atlanta analyzed urine samples from children ages three to 11 who ate only organic foods and found that they contained virtually no metabolites of two common pesticides, malathion and chlorpyrifos. However, once the children returned to eating conventionally grown foods, concentrations of these pesticide metabolites quickly climbed as high as 263 parts per billion. Pesticide exposure has been link to many adverse health conditions ranging from skin diseases amongst farmers who use pesticides to very serious neurological diseases, such as Parkinson's disease.
At this time, the research on the increased nutritional value of organic foods is controversial. It is extremely difficult to conduct studies that would control the many variables that might affect nutrients, such as seeds, soil type, climate, postharvest handling, and crop variety. However, researchers at the University of California, Davis, recently found that organic tomatoes had higher levels of phytochemicals and vitamin C than conventional tomatoes.
A study in the January 2003 Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found 52 percent more ascorbic acid, or vitamin C, in frozen organic corn than in conventional corn, and 67 percent more in corn raised by sustainable methods - a combination of organic and conventional farming. A three-year study in Italy, reported in the August 2002 issue of the same journal, found higher levels of polyphenols in organic peaches and pears, and about 8 percent more ascorbic acid in organic peaches.Second, studies show that by eating organic foods, you can reduce your exposure to the potential health risks associated with those chemicals. Conventional crops are heavily subsidized by the federal government in the United States, making them artificially inexpensive. Couple those subsidies -- which have been in place since the New Deal -- with the cost of cleaning up pollution and treating health problems created by conventional farming, and we're paying a lot in taxes in order to pay a pittance at the grocery store."When we make the argument that low-income people can't afford organics, we're assuming that the prices of conventionals are the prices we should be paying," says a USDA economic researcher who asked to remain anonymous. "But those prices externalize a lot of costs, like pollution and higher energy inputs."A study last year by Iowa State University economists showed that the annual external costs of U.S. agriculture -- accounting for impacts such as erosion, water pollution, and damage to wildlife -- fall between $5 billion and $16 billion. (For context, that's as much as twice the EPA's 2005 budget.) And Michael Duffy, a coauthor of the Iowa paper, says his team's estimate is conservative.
Third, going organic is the only practical way to avoid eating genetically modified (GM) food. And by buying organic food, you are registering your mistrust of GMO's and doing your bit to protest against them.But you should also be aware that as more consumers are turning to organic products, some of the country’s largest food producers are trying to chip away at what organic labels promise to deliver.