The issue of organic versus conventional foods has turned into quite a debate in recent years.
At first, organic food was encouraged as an alternative to the dangers and deficiencies of conventional products. Studies revealed that conventional produce contains fewer essential nutrients[1] and more toxins, pesticides, and other contaminants.[2]
Buying organic also quickly became a way to move away from supporting giant, unscrupulous agricultural businesses that are destroying the earth’s soil and polluting every other aspect of the environment in the process.
But as organic food caught on, it soon came to be derided as a “fad” and a money-making scheme. All sorts of articles and publications (some of which are undoubtedly supported or fabricated by the conventional food industry) claim that organic foods are not safer, healthier, or more nutritious than conventional foods.
While all of these criticisms can be disproven with a lengthy enough argument, there’s one point that no one debates: conventional foods contain dramatically higher levels of pesticides. In most cases, organic foods contain none whatsoever (except in the cases of large manufacturers, where slight cross-contamination can occur).
Pro-food-industry pundits argue that it’s not necessarily a bad thing that conventional foods contain pesticides, because “there’s no proof that pesticides are bad.”
But a mountain of evidence speaks to the contrary—some of which we’ve discussed here and here. Remarkably conclusive studies suggest that pesticides lower IQ, stunt brain development in children, and disrupt the functioning of the endocrine system, immune system, and reproductive system.[3] And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
At the very least, most people can agree that we know very little about the long-term effects of cumulative pesticide consumption, and that the correlations between pesticides and chronic health conditions are rather frightening. Even skeptical researchers admit that the combination of multiple pesticides in the body—even at small doses—has a high chance of leading to health problems, due to the unpredictable synergy of the different chemicals.
Therefore, it seems best to avoid polluting your body with them whenever possible.
Now a new study conducted by the Swedish Environmental Research Institute proves that this sage advice is definitely worth taking.
A “conventional” family takes the plunge
This Swedish study set out to prove that switching completely to organic food consumption can significantly lower levels of pesticide contamination in the body—and the results were even better than they hoped for.
A family used to eating primarily conventionally grown food switched to an all-organic diet. In a surprisingly short period of time, their body burden of pesticides dropped significantly, which strongly suggests eating organic may make a positive difference to your health.
Check out this amazing video that they made to showcase their findings:
Prior to making the switch from conventional to organic, urine samples revealed that all members of the family had high levels of (multiple) pesticides in their bodies. After a mere two weeks of eating organic rather than conventional food, these levels had dropped to nearly zero.
While further research is necessary to demonstrate that these results are replicable, this study is a powerful, straightforward presentation of the virtues of organic eating. Its simple and impressive results combat the notion that the higher price of organic food “isn’t worth it.” As more and more people are beginning to realize, it’s still way cheaper than the health care you’ll probably need after long-term consumption of conventional foods.
Now it’s your turn!
So if you’ve been waiting for a good enough reason to go organic, here it is. You can read all the details about the study here if you’re still on the fence.
Despite the mainstream supporters of pesticides and herbicides who are hanging on for dear life (and insisting that there’s nothing harmful about them), the day is approaching when we’ll wonder why and how we ever used these toxins of industrial agriculture.
Even the World Health Organization now classifies glyphosate, the main ingredient in RoundUp, as a probable carcinogen.
Organic food may be somewhat more expensive, but it really is worth it. Make the switch, and before long, you’ll wonder how you could’ve ever eaten any other way.
References
[1] https://www.organicconsumers.org/old_articles/ofgu/vegies121205.php
[2] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17613056
[3] http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/04/29/pesticide-exposure.aspx
