Organic Food does NOT mean it is healthier!!

naisho

naisho

Forum Disorders M.D.,Ph.D
Joined
Nov 6, 2006
Messages
6,433
Reaction score
12
I keep seeing this again and again over the boards, it's starting to become a peeve of mine.
Foods that are labeled as ORGANIC does NOT mean that it is necessarily more healthy than their NON-ORGANIC compounds.


According to the US Department of Agriculture,
Organic means:
Food that is produced free of drugs, hormones, artificial chemicals and radiation.

There is also one thing not taken into account, even if they are purely grown. From the ____ farm that takes the food to your local supermarket, during the transport of that particular fruit or vegetable you are buying, the truck that is doing the transport is emitting tons of CO2 - Carbon Dioxide.
You can find that study by clicking right here.

Where is that CO2 going? Common sense will tell you once it goes all the way up into the atmosphere, some of it disperses into space, the gases that don't - what happens to these? They come back down! in different forms like rain, precipitation, gas in the air! Then as a result - your "organic produce" could be using RECLAIMED CO2 water and gases, growing in that form of mass "organic produce" that followed FDA guidelines.

In that case -- the food you could buy from a local farm or produce market that didn't travel thousands of miles to your supermarket just for that "Organic Tag Section" could be technically much healthier overall both to you _and_ the environment. And you saved a few cents.




Technically, if I wanted to be a skeptic: whoever chose the word Organic to represent "healthier food" chose the wrong word..
Organic, in a plain english dictionary - off Princeton:
Relating or belonging to the class of chemical compounds having a carbon basis; "hydrocarbons are organic compounds" - meaning, it's carbon based.
In layman's terms, that plastic fork that you used during your lunch break, y'know that was organic in chemistry terms, confusing! Modern day artifical plastic are the completely contradictory sense in the whole basis of "organic", because they ARE organic in that definition.
You'll be able to see this whole logic for this definition yourself by clicking right here, courtesy of a chemist.

Finally, one last bit I'd like to add:
The US Department of Agriculture makes no claims that organically grown food is more nutritious or safer than other non-organically produced food.

In that sense, you were telling your friend or family that you felt much better eating that dinner, or buying that produce which then consisting of organic food - I pity you, because you just totally had no idea what you were talking about.

Wooo! Got it?
Got a ton off my back in that case! Have fun knowing this if you've read through it. Don't get tricked into a load of that "Organic food" craze unless you're completely sure you can trust where that produce was grown from.

Another nice source for you to read, if you like reading TIME:
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1599110,00.html
 
Well - I do think organic IS healthier, but if the source you are getting your organic food from is sh*tty, the food will not be very healthy.

Also, I believe it is example important to make sure you know where you are buying organic goods from, because I learned that food can only be 1% (or something) organic and be labeled organic.

Grow your own stuff and buy locally as much as you can/afford ^_^
 
I have been a member of a health food co-op for many years and eat a plant-based, whole foods diet - no longer vegan but was some years back. I agree with Naisho that often "organic" as a claim by itself does not generally mean the product is healthier - one can have organic Cheeto's or cheesecake or fried chicken and all that refers to is the non-use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, other chemical, for a period of three years <depending on whether certified organic or not>. I do think based on what I have read that certain organic produce that is conventionally heavily sprayed, such as lettuce, peanuts, berries, is better than non-organic because the pesticide load on the organic will be lower and is has been tested and proven that the nutrient content on some of the organic produce is higher than in its conventional equivalent.

I also think that organic milk and meat products are healthier because the chemicals and drugs ingested by factory farmed animals will be less or not present in organic; however we must remember the case of a certain very big-name brand organic that was cited for not letting their cattle have access to pasture but was still certified as organic because of the way the National Cert. Program works. Cattle who don't graze are being forced to eat grain which causes all kinds of problems in them, leading to the high use of antibiotics and other agents to manage physical problems. When buying meat and dairy for my husband and dogs I usually focus on local and grass-fed/pastured, which in turn will usually be organic although likely not certified, since organic certification is very expensive. Grass-fed milk and meat products also contain naturally higher levels of a certain fatty acid which is better for the human body than the highly-processed omega-6 fats found in the SAD - Standard American Diet.
 
i see whatever foods are sitting in front of me, as long as they look good. i will be pigging out and vaccumming all of food. *burp* excuse me.


Just use common sense to look at the ingredient to see if you should not eat or not. thats all matter to me. :D
 
As long any vegetables and fruits are healthy!! :D
 
Phillips said:
As long any vegetables and fruits are healthy!! :D
Click to expand...

Not like this

bad-apple.jpg
 
Even Natural Stuff Can cause problems

Auxigro and Colony Collapse Disorder:

The following is related to MSG, and is crucial to understanding why exactly we CANNOT assume all items derived from foods are always safe:

In 1997, a company called Auxein Corporation, created in 1994, filed to get permission from the EPA for a growth enhancing crop spray. It was called Auxigro. The mixture contained an apparently simple mixture of food-derived products: 29% pure free glutamic acid (the active part of MSG), hydrolyzed casein (milk protein) and GABA - another substance found in foods. The EPA, because the ingredients used had GRAS status or were already in foods, the EPA granted waivers endocrine testing. It also granted Auxigro an EXEMPTION from pesticide testing. The petition was filed in 1997, the waivers were granted in 1998 and after being introduced for sale in 1999, Auxigro was used on potatoes, strawberries, and broccoli. In 2001, Auxein became Emerald BioAgriculture and by June 2002, sold Auxigro for use on California tomatos, almonds, grapes, onions, and all stone fruit including apricots, cherries, plums, nectarines, peaches, and prunes. It was sprayed on wine grapes in California as well. The following crops were advocated for its use: almonds, apples, avocado, broccoli, cherries, corn, grapefruit, grapes, lime beans, mangoes, melons, onions, peaches, plums, peppers, pineapple, potatoes, snap beans and tomatoes. Emerald BioAgriculture also touted its use for corn silage and sod and turf applications. Mexico, Canada, Spain, and Turkey also sold this crop spray. By 2004, Auxigro was highly touted in agri-biotech magazines.

In October 2006, in North America, the place where Auxigro was first sold - alarm bells sounded. Reports came in that 30%-90% of honeybees were simply leaving their hives. Colony Collapse Disorder was deemed an official threat to our food supply.

Early 2007, reports surfaced from Europe. Colony Collapse Disorder was now affecting hives there as well.

But the unusual thing was this - the bees didn't die off - the worker bees simply ... left.

December, 2007 - the company that made Auxigro, quietly did not renew their license.

June of 2008, hives are beginning to recover from CCD, and numbers are increasing again.

This would all seem like an interesting coincidence and fodder for conspiracy theorists, and also the plot for a new movie, HOWEVER, we at MSGTruth would like to point to some actual science that would explain exactly HOW Auxigro could cause CCD all by it's lonesome.

Auxigro was tested for neither ENDOCRINE effects nor PESTICIDE effects. We suspect it affected BOTH. Pheromones cause endocrine and behavioural changes throughout the animal kingdom. But in the case of bees, pheromones are CRUCIAL. There is one particularly important pheromone that is released by the Nasonoff gland of the queen bee when she feels threatened. It is typically used by the queen bee before she has mated. It REPELS the worker bees - which is exactly the behavior seen in CCD. The worker bees abandon their queen.

Here's the problem: the pheromone in question, o-aminoacetophenone, which repels worker bees, isn't just made by the queen bee. It isn't made only by bees, in fact. It is a component found in some foods. Like stale dry milk. Since Auxigro was not made for direct human consumption there is a very high probability that o-aminoacetophenone was present in Auxigro. The fact that Auxigro was not tested for endocrine affects suggests that this was a pure case of agri-chemical arrogance and bio-chemical ignorance. The makers of Auxigro didn't realize that their product would cause CCD because they, like the EPA, ASSUMED since MILK is safe for humans, that dried processed milk powder would be safe for EVERY creature on the planet.

Well, one man's nonfat dry milk powder is another bee's text message to leave home.

We suspect that if no one else gets the bright idea to crop-dust with substances known to be insect pheromones, that Colony Collapse Disorder will simply become history, and not the fall of humankind as we know it.
 
I remember when there were concerns across the nation about the honeybees disappearing. I never knew it was traced back to Auxigro.
 
SFShawn13 said:
Well - I do think organic IS healthier, but if the source you are getting your organic food from is sh*tty, the food will not be very healthy.

Also, I believe it is example important to make sure you know where you are buying organic goods from, because I learned that food can only be 1% (or something) organic and be labeled organic.

Grow your own stuff and buy locally as much as you can/afford ^_^
Click to expand...

Oh really, did you got nice dinner with your favorite congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, probably in your district?
 
fredfam1 - Wow. I can't imagine that. I wonder if the Monsanto involved with this company.

I thought that the bees were confused with their navigation because of increasing radio towers (airwaves) and chemical grass that are harmful to them. They are everywhere nowadays.

Yeah, it is a big serious problem with honey and food chain. The bees are small ones that nobody cares about it.

In fact, I barely see a very few birds around here. What is the hell going on? Did the chemical lawn killed them? More wild animals are moving away... Many birds and wild animals were here seven years ago.
 
I had heard of the Collapse Disorder but didn't know these details........thanks!

In the Summer my mom and I buy local raw honey at the farmer's market. In Winter I either don't buy any or I get organic.
 
dogmom said:
I had heard of the Collapse Disorder but didn't know these details........thanks!

In the Summer my mom and I buy local raw honey at the farmer's market. In Winter I either don't buy any or I get organic.
Click to expand...

I buy two large jars with local raw honey, too. It is taste so good. I use it for my tea once a while. You are right about the local.
 
In the orange groves they're several hives out.

Excellent honey for a cup of hot green tea!!
 
Doesn't any foods have to be process and preserved before hitting the shelf.

Unless you grow it yourself you really don't know.
 
webexplorer said:
fredfam1 - Wow. I can't imagine that. I wonder if the Monsanto involved with this company.

I thought that the bees were confused with their navigation because of increasing radio towers (airwaves) and chemical grass that are harmful to them. They are everywhere nowadays.

Yeah, it is a big serious problem with honey and food chain. The bees are small ones that nobody cares about it.

In fact, I barely see a very few birds around here. What is the hell going on? Did the chemical lawn killed them? More wild animals are moving away... Many birds and wild animals were here seven years ago.
Click to expand...

According to NPR it's not Monsanto and it's not radio towers or chemicals. It's just parasites, a natural problem.

Collapsing Honey Bee Colonies: Blame The Parasites? : NPR
 
depend on which food. I find it hardly taste different on certainly. However, for milk, I do find it big different one.
 
Back
Top