Organic is Healthier - Scientific Proof

As the debate rages on about whether organically grown food is better for us than the "conventional" produce we have become used to, a new study sides firmly with organic.

Scientists found that some organic food is healthier after tests on kiwi fruit grown by both methods. American researchers have discovered that organically grown kiwis had significantly higher levels of vitamin C and polyphenols - compounds associated with health benefits including reducing cholesterol, improving circulation and preventing cancer.

While sales of organic food are growing rapidly, some experts claim there is little scientific evidence of health benefits. Nutritionist Jennie Brand-Miller of Sydney University states that buying organic is simply a "lifestyle choice", citing research that concluded there was no nutritional difference.

Shane Heaton, nutritionist of the Biological Farmers of Australia, says: "This is a very rigorous study. There is clear evidence that a range of organic foods contain more beneficial nutrients and vitamins and less of things known to have a detrimental health effect such as pesticide residues, food additives and nitrates."

The new research was carried out by Dr Maria Amodio and Dr Adel Kader, from the University of California Davies. Writing in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, they said: "All the main mineral constituents were more concentrated in the organic kiwi fruit, which also had higher asorbic acid (vitamin C) and total polyphenol content, resulting in higher antioxidant activity.

"It is possible that conventional growing practices utilise levels of pesticides that may result in a disruption to phenolic metabolites in the plant that have a protective role in plant defence mechanisms."

Researchers compared organic and non-organic kiwis grown next to each other on a farm in Marysville, California, simultaneously. It was revealed levels of sugars and acids were almost identical, so the flavour would be similar.

The organic fruit was darker and had thicker skin - likely to have developed as part of its defence against pests in the absence of pesticides.

Organically grown fruit had 17 per cent more polyphenols - antioxidants that reduce the production in the body of harmful chemicals called free radicals. The organic produce was also found to have 14 per cent more vitamin C and greater concentrations of several important minerals such as potassium and calcium.

Source - BFA Press Release, 30 March 2007