No evidence to support ‘organic is best’

[S.Annadana]

[Posted: Sun 10/08/2008 by Olivia Fens]

Scientists have shown that organic food is not necessarily better than food grown with the use of pesticides and chemicals.

Many people pay more for organic food believing that it has more nutritional content than food grown with pesticides and chemicals.

However, according to a Danish study, there is no evidence to support this argument. Scientists from the University of Copenhagen studied carrot, cabbage, peas, apples and potato crops.

Produce from the organically and conventionally grown crops was then fed to animals over a two-year period. The nutritional content was measured before the animals ate the vegetables and after excretion.

The results showed there was no difference in nutritional levels, regardless of how the crops were grown.

The study, which was supported by the International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems in Denmark, used three different cultivation methods. The first used animal manure and one organically approved pesticide.

The second method used animal manure and pesticides. Finally, the third method comprised of mineral fertilisers and pesticides.

The crops experienced the same weather conditions and were harvested and treated at the same time. In the case of the organically grown vegetables, all were grown on established organic soil.

The research was published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.