A chance to win £100 worth of shopping vouchers
Are organic foods more nutritious?
From a nutritional point of view, the composition of individual foods is relatively unimportant. What matters is the nutrient content and overall balance of the diet as a whole. A varied and balanced diet which includes plenty of fruit, vegetables and starchy foods should provide all of the nutrients that a healthy individual requires, regardless of whether the individual components are produced by organic or conventional methods.
Apart from a study commissioned ten years ago by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food which looked at the nutritional composition of organically and conventionally grown fruit and vegetables, there have been relatively few studies of the nutrient content of organically and conventionally produced foods. This study found some small differences in levels of some nutrients but confounding variables made it difficult to make comparisons. These included, for example, differences in nutrient content between the varieties used for analysis, the moisture content of the food (this affects the level of all nutrients), the age of the samples and the soil the food was grown in, as well as how the food was stored, processed and cooked before it was analysed.
Earlier this year there were reports in the press that a team from the University of Copenhagen had found conclusive evidence that organically grown plants contained higher levels of nutrients than those grown by conventional methods. However, this was a very specific study looking only at one small component, polyphenols, in a few foods.
printer friendly
send to a friend
Delicious
Digg
reddit
Facebook
StumbleUpon
Horoscopes| Message Boards | Quizzes | Newsletters | Join
iVillage Ltd is a UK company registered in England & Wales (3837269) at 80-110 New Oxford Street, London WC1 1HB
