Organics

In an attempt to present a balanced view here, I'm posting about a recent article a friend sent me that claims, based on a large spread of studies on organic foods, that there is no nutritional benefit to eating organic vegetables or animal products. Of course, even if that is true, there is still a significant benefit to avoiding harmful chemicals and promoting practices that are environmentally sustainable. You can check it out here.

Certainly this is not the overwhelming consensus. Numerous studies here and abroad have found that organic food is better for you. A Danish study, for instance, found that organic foods have increased antioxidants -- which makes sense when you consider that organic foods have to create stronger, self-sufficient defenses when fields aren't sprayed. Other studies, for instance, have determined that organic milk, grains, etc. are significantly healthier. The only honest truth is that it's probably too early to tell, but if you focus only on nutrition, you lose sight of the dangers that added chemicals pose both to your health and our environment.

It's been a while since I've written about anything that interesting on here. This weekend I plan to write about the benefits of eating fermented foods :)