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Permalink Reply by NotinMyName2050 on July 5, 2011 at 10:34am

I find it really odd given the fact that nearly all of the foods we eat are the result of thousands of years of genetic modification through selective breeding programmes.  If there is proof that a specific chemical doesn't break down and has a negative cumulative effect, then of course it should be taken out of use.  But, as things currently stand there is no evidence that an organic diet has any benefits, medically or otherwise.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah Hayn on July 5, 2011 at 11:25am

I buy organic pretty much on fruits and vegetables, and only if I'm going to eat the skin. So, apples, zucchini, etc... I buy organic, but oranges, bananas, etc... I don't bother.

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Permalink Reply by Derek on July 5, 2011 at 10:13pm

I don't buy into the organic fetish. There is no evidence to suggest it is more nutritional and healthier than normal foods. It's a harp for the good old days of natural processes, before big business and mass production took over, but this is just an illusion. Believing that we can feed some 9 billion people with organic products in the future is a dream. GM food is the answer and even if the worst of its risks come to pass, it will still be worth it. If you look at what people are dying of in, say, Africa; you would be crazy not to use GM foods, even if the risks were triple.

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Permalink Reply by Cameron W. on July 6, 2011 at 7:36pm

The only organic stuff I buy are bananas, because I find they taste better, and vegetable broth, because the type I buy has the lowest sodium content out of all the ones I could buy.

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Permalink Reply by Derek on July 6, 2011 at 9:53pm

Being organic or not has no relation to the taste of a food—when it comes to flavor, some organic food is great, most is ok, and some is pretty poor. Same goes for normal foods. There is no evidence that organic tastes better than normal food. At least there hasn't been any objective double bllind tests on the taste issue, as of yet. All claims are subjective and anecdotal, which is of course useless in science.

 

A 12-month stuudy based on 50 years' worth of collected evidence concluded that "there is no good evidence that consumption of organic food is beneficial to health in relation to nutrient content."

I think people link the supposed better health claims to better taste, as many reports of them continue to surface in the press, which probably explains why many are convinced that organic food really does taste better.

 

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Permalink Reply by Jim Minion on July 6, 2011 at 11:18pm

There is a study that show that cancer cells have an emzyme that does not seem to do anything.

Organic fruit and vegetables that have not been treated with a chemical fungicide produces a natural fungicide (don't remember the name of it). This naturally produced fungicide seems to trigger the enzyme in the cancer cell killing the cell. More research is being done at this time.

 

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Permalink Reply by Dr. del Toro on July 7, 2011 at 8:10am

From what I've read in other places, a lot of people supposedly buy organic because they believe it is helping the environment.  There are certain methods, such as crop rotation, which help keep the soil fertile and reduce or eliminate the need to raze more land for crops, but these methods are not strictly used on organic farms.  The drawback is that organic tends to have lower crop yields, so if we want more, we have to plant more.  The best way to help the environment is to buy local.  Local foods aren't shipped very far and thus save energy (and they tend to be fresher).

 

That natural fungicide thing sounds interesting and we can probably single out the gene responsible for the production of it.  Some people seem to be afraid of genetically modified foods.  I find that similar to being afraid of microwaved food.

I wonder what other natural defenses these plants will develop in the absence of pesticides (which some organic farms still use "natural" pesticides).  Because natural is always better, like arsenic, tornados and tobacco.

 

I buy organic if it's on sale, that's about it.  Organic foods have been shown to have higher levels of certain nutrients, but it's not much of a difference if you are eating the right amount of vegetables to begin with.  As long as you are eating the right amount of vegetables, even if they have some levels of pesticides in them, you are still a lot less likely to get cancer than if you don't eat enough vegetables.  If all we had was organic, the poor would be even less likely to get good amounts of vegetables due to the increased price.  This reminds me of the nonsense DDT ban.  DDT saved more lives from malaria than it killed from causing cancer.  It was cheap and effective.

 

It seems "organic" is a way to make more money for less product, all under the guise of "helping the environment" or "being healthier" because it's "all natural". 

What's the amount of artificial food coloring someone has to drink in order to get cancer? Enough to drown a whale?

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