Asparagus and garlic help fight diabetes and obesity, watercress helps stave off cancer, spinach and cabbage reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes, and berries keep the brain young. These headlines ran within the same week and reveal how much new research is focusing on the health benefits of whole food.
Among the plethora of 'healthy' slogans used to sell products - such as 'whole,' 'natural' and 'fresh' - 'organic' is the only term regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. Local is not a regulated label but indicates food grown within the same geographic region. Foods labeled 'organic' are grown without fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Livestock receive organic feed, can spend time outdoors and are kept healthy without antibiotics.
But if farmers trade in pricey medicines for naturally-occurring methods, why is organic food more expensive?
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the main reasons are greater demand than supply, greater labor input than output, increased diversity of goods that limit ability to gain a large economic niche and inefficient marketing and distribution. Often, it also must be separated from conventionally grown food on farms that use both methods.
The advantage of organic food is primarily a healthier environment because little to no chemicals are leached into the ecosystem during production. This may actually be more economically sound; costs for pollution alleviation and nutrient replenishing through fertilizer and fallow time decrease. Animal welfare also has a higher priority, and communities may benefit from the additional jobs.
The health benefits of organic food are more controversial. Though the farmers have decreased health risks from chemical exposure, some worry about increased exposure to biological contaminants. Without chemicals and fertilizer, contamination by bacteria and fungi is a viable concern.
But organic food quality and safety are strictly regulated and contamination is minimized. Manure also is used for conventional food growing, and it may not be applied within 60 days of harvesting to decrease risk of contamination before packaging. Bacterial contamination of livestock products is actually less in organically raised animals, and research shows that if fed
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