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By Sara Calabro
Lindsey Marcellin, MD, MPH
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Organic food is in. Whether it’s Oprah interviewing Michael Pollan, the world’s best-known pro-organic food writer, or your neighborhood grocery store posting signs for its stock of organic foods, you may feel like messages about organic food benefits have exploded in recent years. And you’d be right: In less than 20 years, the organic food
industry has mushroomed — from $1 billion in 1990 to $20 billion in 2007. In 2006 alone, sales of organic foods and beverages grew by 20.9 percent.
One message in particular — that organic food increases longevity — is especially compelling. Pundits and media outlets have latched onto this organic food benefits claim, hoping it’ll serve as the ultimate incentive for Americans to go organic.
But the scientific community is divided on whether organic foods offer enough health benefits to justify the added expense.
A recent study in the United Kingdom looked at the nutritional quality of organic foods and concluded that there was no significant
difference between the benefits derived from organic and non-organic foods. In response, organic food advocates discredited the study,
claiming that the researchers downplayed findings in favor of organic food and failed to include important factors such as antioxidant
capacity.
So,
which organic foods live up to this claim of increased longevity? And which are the best organic foods to buy — worth the extra cost? One of the commonly cited reasons in favor of buying organic is that organic foods, particularly fruits and vegetables, have fewer pesticides.
Many of the pesticides that are used on conventionally grown food were approved before the scientific and medical communities began actively researching the link between pesticide exposure and disease. Only in recent years has great attention been paid to how the food we eat affects our quality of life — and how long we get to enjoy it.
A recent study from Tennessee State University looked at how certain compounds affect our immune systems. Researchers concluded that, among others, DDT, a pesticide that’s used to control insects on food crops, decreases the function of natural killer (NK) cells in the body. NK cells are the body’s first line of defense against viral pathogens and tumor cells. A decrease in their function means an increased
susceptibility to cancer and certain viruses.
12 Organic Foods That Are Worth The Cost
The following fruits and vegetables have been identified as
requiring high levels of pesticide use when conventionally grown, so, as
a general rule, they are safest when grown organically:
- Apples
- Bell peppers
- Carrots
- Celery
- Cherries
- Grapes
- Kale
- Lettuce
- Nectarines
- Peaches
- Pears
- Strawberries
15 Foods That Don’t Have to be Organic
Fruits and vegetables that are conventionally grown with relatively fewer pesticides include the following:
- Asparagus
- Avocado
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Eggplant
- Kiwi
- Mango
- Onion
- Papaya
- Pineapple
- Sweet corn
- Sweet peas
- Sweet potatoes
- Watermelon
- Tomato