Organic Vs. Conventional Food: Which is better?
In the produce section at your local grocery store you will typically find an organic section that sits alongside of or close to the conventionally grown produce area. An as is the case just about everywhere, the organically grown produce is more expensive. For so many of us it seems to be an easy choice, “the cheaper the better”, especially as inflation climbs in today’s groceries. But could opting for organically grown food make a difference in your health and how you feel? There is evidence to support that choosing organic can decrease one’s toxic load due to the fact that organically grown food is exposed to less pesticides and chemicals.
To start, let’s define what exactly it means to be conventionally grown food. When a crop is grown conventionally, it typically adheres to the following guidelines:
Use of synthetic chemical fertilizers
Use of chemical pesticides
Use of chemical weed killers
Use of genetically modified organisms that can deliver consistent crops
Production of the same crop in one or two fields in a growing season.
Organically grown food differs in what it adheres to following the guidelines below:
Natural fertilizers, crop rotation, and cover crops to enhance soil quality, composition and fertility
Crop rotation, mulch, and hand or mechanical weeding to manage weeds
Beneficial insects, trap crops, and crop rotation to manage insects
Cover crops and crop rotation to manage disease.
As is evident, both types of farmers do their best to provide us with the food that we need to survive. The question remains that is one better than the other for consumers to purchase and consume. When looking at how both types of producers farm, it is clearly seen as to why organically grown foods come at a higher cost, there is more that goes into it, and stricter guidelines to follow. But is the cost worth it in the end? You be the judge.
In my last blog post, I talked about the different chemicals within our processed foods that can have adverse affects on our body and our gut microbiome. So, if we use synthetic chemicals in our processed food and it may be carcinogenic or DNA altering, what’s to say that synthetic chemicals that are used in conventional farming might too have the same effect.
Take for instance the much discussed glyphosate. What is glyphosate? It is commonly known as the main ingredient in the weed killer Roundup. Developed in 1974, glyphosate has seen its use increased more than 200% throughout the past 5 decades. In the U.S., approximately 281 million pounds of glyphosate were applied to 298 million acres annually, on average, from 2012 to 2016, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Last year, Bayer AG who owns Monsanto, said it will stop producing glyphosate products from the US consumer market by 2023. The reason for this removal is due to more than 100,00 lawsuit claims of the development of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma by people using Roundup. If these lawsuits are from those applying the herbicide, what may come from ingesting it?
In 2015, the World Health Organization labeled glyphosate as a probable carcinogen. There are also numerous studies that also label glyphosate as a endocrine disruptor, neurotoxin, microbiome disruptor, and possible causation of liver and kidney disease. A study published in June of this year by the CDC indicates that more than 80% of subsample of the US population of 6 year-olds and older had glyphosate in their urine.
That number is definitely a cause for concern. If more than 80% of a subset of our population has glyphosate traced within their urine what does that mean for the rest of us? And with the rise in cancer, as well as with autoimmune disease in the United States, could we be poisoning ourselves in our food supply by using synthetic chemicals in our farming?
It appears that many health officials are more skeptical to the use of the synthetic chemicals and prefer the use of organic produce and products when available. With the risks that may be associated with conventionally grown crops, the investment in organic produce and products are worth it. But what if one isn’t able to buy everything organic? The Environmental Working Group publishes a yearly guide to crops that are safer to eat on the conventional side of things, named the Clean 15. It also publishes the Dirty Dozen, which is a list of produce that you should really buy organically.
With today’s inflation, it is definitely a challenge to opt for the organic produce and products. However, making the investment in your health today with the products you consume, may decrease the monetary expenditures down the road with healthcare and illness.