Study Shows that Organic Foods ARE Healthier

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In a message dated 2/10/02 3:04:58 AM, crawfordh writes:

 

< Study Shows that Organic Foods ARE Healthier

 

>

 

> FINALLY, there is some published proof that organic produce IS more

 

> nutritious than commercially-grown produce. If you can afford it, buy

 

> organic produce whenever you can. You can download Dr. Virginia

 

> Worthington's seminal paper at

 

>

 

> http://www.foodisyourbestmedicine.com/organic

 

>

 

> THE JOURNAL OF ALTERNATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE Volume 7,

 

> Number 2, 2001, Nutritional Quality of Organic Versus Conventional

 

> Fruits, Vegetables, and Grains VIRGINIA WORTHINGTON, M.S., Sc.D.,

 

> C.N.S.

 

>

 

> ABSTRACT

 

>

 

> Objectives: To survey existing literature comparing nutrient content

 

> of organic and conventional crops using statistical methods to

 

> identify significant differences and trends in the data.

 

>

 

> Design: Published comparative measurements of organic and

 

> conventional nutrient content were entered into a database for

 

> calculation. For each organic-to-conventional comparison, a per-cent

 

> difference was calculated: (organic 2 conventional)/conventional 3

 

> 100. For nutrients where there was adequate data, the Wilcoxon

 

> signed-rank test was used to identify significant differences in

 

> nutrient content as represented by the percent difference. Mean

 

> percent difference values were also calculated for each significant

 

> nutrient by study and by vegetable for the most frequently studied

 

> vegetables. The nutrient content of the daily vegetable intake was

 

> calculated for both an organic and conventional diet.

 

>

 

> Results: Organic crops contained significantly more vitamin C, iron,

 

> magnesium, and phosphorus and significantly less nitrates than

 

> conventional crops. There were nonsignificant trends showing less

 

> protein but of a better quality and a higher content of nutritionally

 

> significant minerals with lower amounts of some heavy metals in

 

> organic crops compared to conventional ones. Conclusions: There

 

> appear to be genuine differences in the nutrient content of organic

 

> and conventional crops.

 

> >>