Are Organic Foods More Nutritious?

The Nutrition Facts label is meant to give you quick and effective information about the food’s nutritional value. But when it comes to choosing between organic and non-organic food, this numerical information shouldn’t be the only criteria. To make right, informed food choices that lead to a healthy diet, some other factors should also be taken into consideration. So, what then is safe and healthy?

The answer is not yet very clear. Research conducted recently analyzed the last 50 years’ worth of scientific reports regarding the nutrient content of organic and conventional foods. The study concluded that organically and conventionally produced foods are very much the same in their nutrient content. Research in this area is continuing.

Organic food supporters claim that organically produced foods are safer and more nutritious compared to foods produced with non-organic procedures including pesticide and non-organic fertilizer use, or antibiotic as well as hormone use. Many people simply do not trust these chemicals and do not choose to place them into their bodies. Since practically all non-organically produced foods contain remains of pesticides, fertilizers along with other chemical substances, the only way to avoid them is to buy organic foods.

Organic Farming – The Process

Changing land status to “organic” is a 3 year program. The first 2 years of conversion process consist of developing the fertility of the terrain. Produce grown in the first year can not be claimed as organic. By the next year produce resulted may be declared as “In Conversion”. Only just in the third year the produce would be stated as entirely organic. Natural fertility building and soil properties are significant elements of organic agriculture.

The Methods

Although shoppers will be only interested in the finale result, producers have accented that good soil is fundamental for healthy agro-ecosystems. California farmers sterilized their soil with methyl bromide (a toxic ozone-depleting substance) for decades, and so have diminished soil attributes from a habitat for microorganisms to a growing medium lacking of nutrients. Regardless of the usual approach of treating soil with synthetic fertilizers, scientific tests discovered that organic soils contained considerably higher volumes of nutrients. Organic and conventional fields contained comparable amounts of most extractable nutrients, but organic field had increased amounts of zinc, iron, sodium and boron. Organic fields also were better through several biological properties, including micronutrient levels, carbon sequestration and enzyme activities.
Due to the fact that organic production practices focus on the conservation of soil and water as well as the use of renewable resources, organic products also suit environmental concerns.

Organic Diet Explained

Organic foods are made in a way that complies with organic specifications and standards established by international organizations and national governments. Organic food production In the United States is a process that is managed in accordance with the OFPA (Organic Foods Production Act) of 1990 and regulations in Title 7, Part 205 of the Code of Federal Regulations to answer to site-specific requirements by cultural, biological, and mechanical integration practices that foster cycling of natural resources, encourage ecological equilibrium, and conserve biodiversity. For the greater part of human history, farming could be characterized as “organic”; only during the course of the 20th century had been a large supply of new chemicals introduced to the foods. This a lot more recent type of production is known as “conventional”. Under organic production, the use of conventional non-organic pesticide (including fungicides, insecticides, and herbicides) is precluded. However, despite popular belief, some sprays and other components that match organic specifications are permitted in the production process of organic food. If livestock are involved, it must be reared with regular access to grass and without the routine use of antibiotics or growth hormones. In most countries, organic foods may not be genetically modified. It has been proposed that the application of nanotechnology to food and agriculture is a further innovation that must be ruled out from certified organic food. The first organic certifier who implemented a nano-exclusion is The Soil Association (UK).