Trends in Nursing and Health Care Research

Organic food research had started since 20th century and people now become more and more interested in organic food due to the needs for better quality and safety of food. There are more and more studies support the view that organic food is healthier than the conventional non-organic one; however, there are also opposite views, insisting there is no difference between consuming organic food and non-organic food. By investigating the reasons for these views, it is found that it is not logic to derive their conclusions from the arguments they used, and by practice, organic foods do have healthy effect that was lacked in conventional non-organic food, such as making one feel happier and better memory, which are consistent with many studies showed the better nutritious value of organic foods and the healthy effects of eating them. It should be of great importance to health to eat organic food in long term.

Keywords: Organic food, Health, Nutrient, Pesticide and fertilizer, Happy feeling and better memory

The studies about organic food had already begun at 20th century or earlier, and there are many studies which show that organic food has higher quality than the conventional one, i.e., more nutritious than non-organic food. Many explanations about these studies denied that organic production of food made such difference, but such explanations likely are just untrue.

Organic foods are agricultural products produced by organic farming, it avoids the application of most synthesized pesticides and fertilizers, which are shown to have a lot of side effects to human and the environment. Synthesized pesticides can poison insects, destroy their neutron systems, thereby kill them; however, human are also similar creatures, and the effects of pesticides can be same on human, it has already been suggested that the abuse of pesticides can lead to depression. And synthesized fertilizers, chemical fertilizer can also destroy the health of soil. For these reasons, the more organic the foods were produced, the healthier it is to ingest them, organic food theoretically should be healthier than conventional food.

According to the studies mentioned in reference,¹ organic potatoes and leafy vegetables have higher level of vitamin C, and organically produced foods generally have a trend to have higher nutrient levels. Although there is a trend that organic legumes and cereal crops have lower protein content but higher protein quality, and similar results about spinach, beetroots, carrots, tomatoes, and potatoes have appeared in studies mentioned in reference,² the concentration of several essential amino acids are higher, this possibly is because too great nitrogen availability raises the protein content but lowers the protein quality. Such differences in content could be essential to the health of human body, though the difference is not remarkable, but what about when people need to eat them at each meal every day?

Dry matter content also differ in some organic crops and conventional ones, organic ones have higher level of dry matter content, this is different and should be more nutritious for organic products. Dry weight can be translated into fresh weight, but if it says that it is impossible to compare results expressed on dry weight basis with ones expressed on fresh weight, how about just to compare the dry weight with fresh weight of both organic and conventional crops? The percentage of dry matter to fresh weight may show that organic crops are different from conventional crops and are more nutritious.

Currently there is no clear evidence showing that vitamins A, B₁, or B₂ significantly differ in organic and conventional vegetables, and there are reports of both lower and higher concentration of -carotene in studies, some studies show that applying same amount of organic fertilizer gets lower increase of the -carotene than same amount of conventional fertilizer; however, should apply proper amounts of fertilizer both for organic and conventional cultivation to compare their -carotene content, it is not complete organic or conventional farming if the amount of fertilizers are not proper. There are several more studies mentioned in reference² show that organic vegetables have higher concentration of vitamin C, though the objectives of the investigations are limited, and other studies showed no difference, this can be enough to show that organic foods are more nutritious as long as the studies are honest. There is also study reports that organic apples, pears, and pineapples have higher concentration of micronutrient, only organic farming can be accountable for such result.

Organic cereal crops and legumes have higher quality of protein though lower protein content, it can also only be organic farming that made such difference, it may be because other studies didn’t realize the organic condition strictly that they showed no difference. Organic farming should make the crops healthier therefore contain more nutritious content, why the organic corn has higher concentrations of lysine, methionine, histidine, threonine but lower concentrations of isoleucine, leucine and phenylalanine may because the organic fertilizers are not enough, it may require more amount of organic fertilizers than conventional fertilizers to let the crops have same level of growth, and even the organic crops can’t grow as much as the conventional crops, the quality of the crops should be higher since their natural condition for growth were better satisfied. The studies reported higher micronutrient content in organic crops, has already suggested that organic farming makes the products contain more micronutrient since it is the only factor that can make the difference, other study showed a negative result probably is because the fertilizers or other conditions for organic farming are not comparable with the conventional ones, with same crop, organic farming must provide better nutrition for the plants and animals to grow more nutritious materials, and reduce the content of harmful pesticides and other drugs. Organic animal-derived products should also have better nutrient quality since their natural condition for growth were better satisfied. And many other studies show that consumption of organic food can also help to combat and prevent cancer.

As experience, the author also has consumed a lot of organic food, and it feels organic food contains some more important nutrients which were lacked in conventional foods, the amount may not be high, but the nutrients are essential, there is a deficiency of health after eating non-organic meal outside compared with eating organic meal at home. The difference of cuisine in home and restaurant may account; however, the raw materials used to cook should be more essential to account for the deficiency of health. Health makes one happy, if the food doesn’t make one happy enough, it must not be healthy enough as well. The father of the author also pointed out that eating organic food makes one more energetic and better memory. The difference between consuming organic and non-organic foods suggests that it is important to health to eat organic food, especially in long term. Pesticides and other drugs may not influence one’s health if they were below acceptable limits; however, that would not be the case in long term, one’s function to detoxify these contaminations may get tired if one consumed foods contained them in long term, then one will not be able to stand the contamination even under the acceptable limit anymore. Organic food is more friendly to health anyway.

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Author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

1. 1. Williamson CS. Is organic food better for our health?. British Nutrition Foundation Nutrition Bulletin. 2007;32:104-110.
2. 2. Faidon M, Fotini A, Antonis Z. Organic food: nutritious food or food for thought? A review of the evidence. International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition. 2003;54(5):357-371.