Study: Is organic food more healthy?

Discussion over the benefits of organic food was largely put to rest a few years ago by a surge of studies that found only minor, largely negligible, results when examining if organically grown fruits and vegetables were more healthy for you, but the debate has been opened again by a recent publication in the British Journal of Nutrition.

The review of previous peer-reviewed studies has found that organic produce, which can cost as much as double it’s traditionally-grown counterpart, comes with 17 per cent higher levels of antioxidants. The analysis was of 343 studies spanning recent decades, some small and some expansive.

The analysis, published last week, stops short of claiming that organically grown food is more healthy, as that isn’t necessarily the case. Although antioxidants are good for you, the researchers note there are few other noticeable differences in the final products between the two methods of growing food. There is no notable difference in the levels of other minerals people generally get from produce, such as vitamins E and C, although there is less pesticide on organic foods, as to be expected.

Still, the small difference in the levels of antioxidants may turn out to be more beneficial than we realize, as scientists still don’t completely understand how some of them function, although they seem to help with aging and stave off some cancers. That said, with the number of fruit and vegetable servings most North Americans eat daily, the better option for increasing your intake of antioxidants would simply be to eat another apple each day, as most people do not reach the recommended levels.