Organic III: the final chapter

When I finished my last organic post (before a short caramel detour, and a short forced hiatus due to illness) I felt like I was well and truly falling down the rabbit hole, holding a can of worms and heading towards a box marked ‘PANDORA’ in big letters. I also felt a little confused, and not just by the number of mixed metaphors I was using. Once you start questioning your food (well, not literally) you find out all sorts of unpalatable truths (pun: hilarious) about pesticides and hormones and so on. I can’t look at what I eat and drink in the same way anymore. For example, it’s a relief to know that Australian chickens don’t have added hormones and are pretty antibiotic free, but if they are fed on grain which is sprayed with the old bug-be-gone, then my chicken pesto may be chicken pesticido. Is anything safe?? But then there's no evidence that these pesticides do anything bad to me...so....???

I’ll admit that I hoped the answer to 'should I go organic?' would be something like ‘ sure, go organic if you want to, but, hey, no problemo if you don’t feel like it or can’t afford it’.  But no. It had to be more complicated than that. Damn you organic food *shakes fist*. By the way, this is a picture of the 'organic section' of my local supermarket which illustrates why I'm not touching on the 'organic is better for the environment' argument in this series. It's just...yeah.

The only sure way to keep the pesticides off is to wrap the food in plastic.

But I do still need to know whether the claims of the organic food industry- that organic food tastes better and is it better for you than regular food- are true. Here are a few random samples:

Organic produce is better for you and more nutritious. Many people say that organic food tastes "as it used to", remember when we were kids? Research has shown that organic food has more vitamins, antioxidants and nutrients. Organic Angels (Australia) [Emphasis theirs] 

Flavor is another benefit of healthy plants growing in a living soil. Flavor results from a mixture of many different and complex molecules. Healthy, living soil provides a constant and more complex mixture of these molecules, which results in more flavor. Maine Organic Farmers and Gardiner’s Association   

The claims of other organic groups are similar, and many state that these claims are backed by 'research' (without citing specific research) which makes it sound legit and not just a hard sell from an industry asking you to pay 33% more for their goods. Well, call me cynical but I’m not going to take their word for it. Here’s what I found out.

In 2007 there was a huge media storm in the UK (and internationally) over the nutritional value of organic food after a large UK organic research facility (funded by Tesco, the largest seller of organic food in the UK) reported that their organically grown food was up to 40% higher in nutrients than conventional food grown at the same time. Newspapers went wild. The organic associations demanded that the government’s food standards agency ‘admit’ that organic food was superior. But when the data were actually examined, the findings were less exciting. Yes, the organic peaches grown in 2004 had 40% higher phenolics (which may have antiviral and anti-inflammatory health benefits) than conventional peaches, for example. But then the conventional peaches grown in 2005 had 30% higher phenolics than the organic peaches. This is just one example of the inconsistent findings which have plagued research in this area. There are some ‘trends’, but no firm conclusions about the nutritional superiority of organic food. The few well-conducted studies in this area (summarised here and here) suggest: 

• There is no evidence that vitamins, minerals and trace elements in organic food are greater than in conventional foods for most food types, but
• There is some (slight) evidence that leafy veges and potatoes may have a higher vitamin C content when grown organically and that some organic veges and cereal crops may have better quality proteins and higher iron and manganese than their conventional cousins.
• Grass/clover fed cows may produce milk higher in vitamin E, beta-carotene and lutein as well as Omega-3 fatty acids.

If these trends are correct (and not just statistical anomalies), the question then becomes whether this makes any difference to our health. A systematic review of research in 2010 showed that in the past  52 years, there have been only 12 well-conducted studies comparing the health benefits of organic vs conventional food. And the majority of these showed no difference in health outcomes. Food for thought. I’ll get to some conclusions in a minute, promise.

Finally though, to taste. Such a subjective thing, one wonders how anyone could ever reasonably claim that any food ‘tastes better’ than another. Surely it’s in the eye mouth of the beholder.  So while research has shown repeatedly that people who buy organic food claim that it tastes better, and some research has demonstrated that in blind taste testings, things like orange juice and bread are rated as yummier when organic, this is an area where science can’t tell me what to do, really. If I think it tastes better, then it does (for me). I’ll have to see taste for myself.

Ok, time for some conclusions. Oh god. What to make of all this?? Ok, systematically:

• Organic food costs a LOT more than conventional food
• Organic food is mostly pesticide free (but not 100%)
• While Australian chicken and lamb are fairly safe from antibiotics and hormones, pesticides may still be a concern for animal products from animals fed on non organic grain. 
• Some Australian fresh produce is more likely to have high levels of pesticide residue at than others (see my nerdy but colourful chart on the previous organic post)
• There's little evidence that organic food is higher in nutrients, but the evidence there is points to potential benefits in organic milk, leafy greens, potatoes and cereal crops.
• Only my taste buds can tell me if organic tastes better.

Here's the thing. While I wish it wasn't so, the first point is the most important. There's just no point thinking that I can regularly increase my food budget by a third, no matter what the rest of the list says. BUT there may be a way to shop smarter and get value out of organic, so here's what I plan to do. I'll buy organic milk, bread and fresh produce which falls into the orange column of my chart (e.g., carrots, spinach, apples, pears). If my budget can bear it, I'll choose organic pork, because pork is treated with hormones in Australia, so there is that plus the pesticide (from the feed given to the pigs) to be thinking about. Beef also falls into this category but luckily Coles offers the hormone free beef (at no added cost to me!) so I'll take them up on that. 

And believe it or not folks, but I might just try the whole growing it myself thing for some of my veges, which will help. I'm soon to have my own backyard to dig around in, after all. We'll see.

So, that's that. A semi-organic-as-much-as-I-can-afford-it lifestyle for me. Probably what I would have guessed three posts ago, but at least now I know why I'm doing it. To some extent. 

I'd love to know if you've ever considered going organic and if so, what you decided to do. It's a tough one!