Do we need to eat organic fruit and vegetables?

 

Why did the UK sales of organic produce rise by 4% in 2014 when consumers were actually spending less money on food? (Organic Market Report 2015)

A question I get asked a lot is "Do we need to eat Organic fruit and vegetables?"

 

There are two things to consider:

'What are the implications of eating conventional sprayed fruit and veg (F&V) on your health?' and "How do the pesticides used to spray the F&V affect our environment?"

 

Like any topic I seem to research in the field of health and nutrition there are many conflicting arguments for both sides which give the general public mixed messages.

This is my current take on buying organic or nonorganic F&V.

 

The organic farming of fruit and vegetables

Organic F&V  are cultivated without chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Farmers use crop rotation, predator insects and plant selection and other 'environmentally friendly' methods to protect their crops. Organic crops are also produced in a more sustainable way taking the environment into consideration. The organic farming methods are far more labour intensive hence the extra cost. Organic food seems to cost approximately 10%-47% more than non-organic, but depending on the products sometimes there may only be a very small % difference.

 

Non-organic or conventional farming of fruit and veg

When we buy conventional sprayed F&V many of them have been sprayed with pesticides. Pesticides are used to kill anything that is trying to damage the crops like bug, fungus and bacteria. The problem is when we buy these fruit and veg there is still an invisible layer of pesticides on them which is often ingested when we eat them.   Also the fertilizers that are used can be created from waste materials such as sewage sludge (bio-solids a  by-product from our water treatment.) http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/issues/1050/sewage-sludge/what-is-sewage-sludg

 

What level of toxins or pesticides is safe?

Our foods are naturally made up of chemical compounds but it is knowing what chemicals are toxic to our bodies and in what quantities over a long time.  Even organic pesticides like copper in high dose can be toxic to the human body so Organic pesticides are not 100% safe either.

I looked into the The European Food Safety Authority(EFSA) the group that regulates the use of pesticides, genetically modified GM foods, and food contaminants within Europe. But it turns out that they have financial links with the chemical companies they are meant to investigate/control. But even with these financial incentives to work in favour of the chemical/ pesticide producers they even acknowledged that 'Food containing pesticide residues may pose a risk to public health.' ( 'Chemicals in Food 2015' EFSA.)The EFSA have set maximum residue levels (MRL'S )and test European foods - in 2013 these were their findings

 

'MRL exceedances for unprocessed products were most frequently noted in 2013 for guava, lychee, passion fruit, tea leaves, okra, basil, parsley, spinach-type vegetables, turnips, papaya, cassava, leafy vegetables and pomegranates.

Processed products most frequently exceeding legal limits were wild fungi, tea leaves, peas with pods, peppers, herbal infusions, tomatoes, beans with pods, pomegranates, table grapes, rice, grapefruit and rye. It is important to note that some of these foods are the subject of import controls and therefore the results may be biased due to the samples being targeted in border inspections.

… and others were well below

No MRL exceedances were reported for unprocessed sweet corn, hazelnuts, watermelon, peanuts, rhubarb, beetroot, pumpkin, avocado, parsnip, linseed, and a number of products of animal origin such as poultry and bovine liver, goat milk, swine and goat meat.

Processed foods with no detected residues were pineapples, cocoa beans, sunflower seeds, beans (without pods), rape seed, sweet corn, soybeans, buckwheat, carrots, oats, dates, apples, linseed, peas (without pods), barley, plums, figs, apricots, potatoes, pears, pumpkin seeds.'

 

I wouldn't  take too much notice of this

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) Which is apparently a-non profit , non partisan organisation which is dedicated to protecting human health and the environment. Put out two lists each year which rate fruit and veg by the amount of pesticides found on them. This gives us a very simplistic view about the pesticides because they don't take into account the actual toxicity of each pesticide. For example one pesticide isn't harmful .in small doses but another pesticide is very harmful in small doses.

 

The Pesticide business $$$$

The pesticide industry is a big, big business. Monsanto one of the least eco-friendly, chemical producers on the planet made $16 Billion last year (EWA). Companies with this sort of money and power are very dangerous because they don't care about our health or the health of the planet, their only care is $$$$$.   These big corporations often have financial ties with governments too which help them when it comes to 'safety testing' their latest chemical compounds and allowing them to be passed as safe. They are very clever at covering up the truth about the dangers that their products cause because they have the money to cover up anything they feel may damage their image. This means we are often kept in the dark about the real facts.

A scientist has recently come up with a natural pesticide produced from mushrooms called SMART pesticides. They are effective against 200,000 different insects.  This sort of development could be very unsettling for the likes of Monsanto.

 

 

 

The effects of pesticides

The long term effects from eating these chemicals on/in our foods is not fully known, but I am going to bet on the fact that they are not doing us much good. Any extra toxin, chemical we put though our system is making out liver work harder - I would prefer my liver to be doing the jobs its meant to do like supporting digestion, storing vitamins and minerals etc.

 

Pesticides in high doses have been linked to many health issues including: nerve damage, cancer, birth defects, chronic, fatigue, skin irritations, breathing problems, liver and kidney problems.  If you look at the protective suits and masks people were to spray the crops it just shows these pesticides are not harmless! 

 

The effects of pesticides on the environment

 

Pesticides negatively affect our air, soil and water.  Synthetic  pesticides are damaging our earth, this is our home and we have a responsibility to reduce this damage as much as possible. Reducing the use of these pesticides on crops has to help the quality of our air, water and soil.  The pesticides are not only in out F&V they are running into our water supplies but are effecting the fish and seafood too.  Natural pollinators such as bees are also negatively affected by the pesticides that kill the flowers . If the bees are wiped out this will have a disastrous chain effect on the natural cross pollination and the whole eco system which will eventually affect humans. Also the decline of butterflies, and birds, earthworms are also linked to the use of these chemicals. The Americans are petitioning Obama to ban the pesticides that are already known to be harming the bees. These neonicotinoid pesticides have been banned in Europe but interesting when it came to vote for or against this in 2013 the UK didn't support the ban which makes you think that the UK government are not really concerned  about our health!

 

Eat lots of fruit and veg non organic or organic!

The last thing I would want to do is put off people from eating F&V. F&V  organic or non organic will always be healthier than fat and sugar laden processed foods.  The majority of people are still struggling to eat five portions of F&V a day. (In my opinion five is way to low, and although it was obviously set as an achievable amount for the average person- many people use it as goal to achieve when really they should have much higher targets to meet re. eating F&V.  Diets high in F&V are linked with lower cancer and disease rates so get munching !) Start getting as much F&V into your daily diet, make fresh F&V a large part of what you are eating and don't worry too much if it is organic or not. When it comes to F&V you don't really need to count calories, eat until you are satisfied. As long as you are not coating them in cheese, or frying them or roasting them in oil etc. you would struggle to get fat just from F&V!

*(I need to make the point that any oil/fat is really calorific and even though it may be marketed as healthy e.g. coconut oil or olive oil, it is still 9 calories per gram - So roasting veg in oil isn't as healthy as you may think it is- there are many tasty alternatives.)

 

F&V Smoothies and Juices

If you are juicing a lot of F&V you are better using organic F&V  and if not make sure you are peeling, washing the pesticides off really well - the idea of juicing and making smoothies from your F&V is to improve your health you don't want to be adding lots of toxins into  your system. I often wonder when you are at a juice/smoothie bar are the F&V peeled, cleaned before they make your drink?  I have seen chefs in kitchens just take fruit and veg out of the packaging and start to prepare it!  Even without thinking about the pesticides on the F&V what about all the different people who have handled the F&V before you bought it? e.g. When it was picked, when it was in the factory, when it was unpacked and then all the different people who handle it in the supermarket/market. I believe it is good hygiene practice to wash any F&V.

What I've concluded from my day of research.....

 

Before looked into all this I believed organic food was a bit of a rip off and not dramatically that different to non-organic foods. Now my opinion has changed. If I had the money  I would aim to buy/eat the majority of locally grown organic foods. I would do this because I believe it is better for our environment and secondly it is kinder to our bodies.

 

 

 

 

It's hard to know which information is fully non-biased and there we are left to make our own conclusions.

 

If you are like me and you are not able to fund a fully organic diet then theses are my tips for being as kind to your body and the world with non- organic F&V:

 

1. Personally I would avoid ingesting pesticides as much as possible. We don't know the long term effects of pesticides on the human body but I'm banking that they are not supporting a healthy body.

 

*Clean all F&V with a cheap, homemade F&V wash See recipe above: This will at least help to wash off some of the pesticides on the skin. You can peel F&V too but you will lose some of the nutritional value in the peel.

 

2. You can try growing some of your own F&V ad this way you know exactly how it has been cultivated. There is loads of info. on the internet and great books and magazines at your local library to support your home gardening. Gardening also helps to: get you outside and moving and be in touch with nature in the fresh air.   You will also have a sense of achievement when you grow your own veg too. Over time you may save some money too!
 

3. If you can buy local, seasonal fruit and veg.. If you are buying direct from the farmer you can ask how the crops were produced.. It's good also to support your local farmers and ensure that they get a fair price for their foods. Even if the locally farmed food isn't organic it will be better for the environment because it hasn't been shipped half way round the world and it should be more nutrient dense as it fresher.

 

4. I would advise you to be particularly stringent in removing all the possible pesticides from your children's F&V. And encourage your child's schools, nursery to do the same. Children are very susceptible to the effects of any toxins including these pesticides,   Because their bodies are so small the pesticides are a lot more concentrated and toxic.

 

5.Look out for discounts and offers on organic goods - sometimes there might only be a 10%-15% difference.

 

6.Also if the demand for organic F&V is greater it will encourage farmers to farm this way. It would help if our governments subsidised farmers to grow organic produce. We need to be voting for governments that really take our health the health of our planet seriously.

 

Sources

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/apr/29/bee-harming-pesticides-banned-europe

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2015/03/cost-of-organic-food/index.htm

http://www.reportlinker.com/ci02035/Organic-Food.html

http://www.wfmynews2.com/story/money/consumer/consumer-reports/2015/03/20/2wtk-organic-foods/25088629/

http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/faq.php

http://newswire.net/newsroom/news/00088293-mycologist-discovered-natural-substitute-to-pesticides.html