Eating Well,Organic Or Not?

While browsing through the magazine rack today at Barnes and Nobles,my favorite bookstore,I stumble upon the Eating Well magazine. On the cover,there is a headline: WHEN TO BUY ORGANIC,A COSUMER GUIDE.

This " When to buy organic" article is written by Peter Jarett. The author poses several questions.

Is organic produce safer? Is organic more nutritious? Is organic friendlier to the enviroment? Is it worth spending more for organically grown food?

The article is fair to both sides of the debate. I interpreted that the author told us to choose produce wisely and keep in mind that organic produce is 50% more expensive.

The author interviewed a scientist at Emory who studied a group of preschool children who were served almost nothing but organic food. These children were found to have no detectable urine level of organophosphates,a by-product of pesticide. As soon as they were switched to eat conventional food,their urine level of the pesticides was detected.

It is save to say "Since many modern pesticides are neurotoxins...even low levels could be potentially dangerous in children,whose brains are developing" which is a quotete from the article.

At the end of the article there is a list of produce ranked from most to least contaminated to help the readers to decide which fruits and vegetables to buy or not buy organic. The source of the list is Environmental Working  Group:Foodnews.org

My personal conclusion has not changed:Eat organic food as often as possible but keep in mind about the cost,the freshness and where the organic foods are from. There are at least 2 reliable resources mentioned in my posts. One is from foodnews and the other is from the book Ultrametabolism.

Comments

[Jeffery Yoder]

Spring and summer produce many organic Fruits and Vegtables grown in my own garden, and I never use any peticides. I also enjoy many Farmers markets in the area. I freeze, pesereve, and dry many of the poducts from my garden, for use during the winter months. I have wondered, in genral, how much nutritural value is kept in the process of storing my organtic Fruits and Vegetables?