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Organic food may carry more anti-cancer compounds

Last Updated: 2003-03-06 14:41:13 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Alison McCook

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Fruits and vegetables that are not treated

with pesticides or herbicides may contain higher concentrations of

cancer-fighting compounds, new research shows.

In

a sample of three types of produce, investigators discovered that those grown

without the pest-fighting chemicals had between 19 percent and nearly 60

percent more of the cancer-fighting compounds known as flavonoids than

conventionally grown produce.

Further

research is needed to determine if the differences in flavonoid content persist

from the field to supermarket shelves, study author Dr. Alyson E. Mitchell of

the University of California, Davis told Reuters Health.

If

that proves to be the case, she noted, food not treated with pesticides,

herbicides and fertilizers--in this study, organic produce--may offer more

anti-cancer benefits than traditionally grown produce.

" It's

a possibility, it's a definite possibility, " Mitchell said.

" If

that's true, " she added, " then there could be an added benefit to

buying organic. "

Flavonoids,

which are found in a variety of fruits and vegetables as well as in tea and red

wine, are thought to boost health in part by combating oxidation, a process in

which cell-damaging substances called free radicals accumulate.

Oxidative

damage can be caused by outside factors, such as cigarette smoking,

or by factors on the cellular level. Oxidation is also suspected of increasing

the risk of heart disease, stroke

and several other diseases.

In

order to measure whether flavonoid content in fruits and vegetables changed

with exposure to pesticides, Mitchell and her colleagues compared flavonoid

content in marionberries (a type of blackberry), strawberries and corn.

Produce

samples had been grown without any pesticides, herbicides or fertilizer; with

fertilizer only; or according to conventional standards, which use all three

substances.

Organic

produce is raised without the use of most pesticides and fertilizers.

Reporting

in a recent issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Mitchell

and her colleagues found that flavonoid levels were 59 percent higher in corn

that had been grown with fertilizer only than in corn raised with pesticides,

herbicides and fertilizer.

Marionberries

and strawberries grown with or without fertilizers contained around 50 percent

and 19 percent more flavonoids, respectively, than those that were

conventionally grown.

In

an interview, Mitchell said she expected to find similar results for other

types of produce.

She

explained that plants use flavonoids to protect themselves against outside

stresses, such as insects, other creatures and ultraviolet radiation. For

instance, when an insect starts eating a plant, the plant's flavonoid levels

increase; when pesticides protect plants from these and others stresses, she

said, plants have less need to boost flavonoid levels.

Dr.

Ray McAllister of CropLife America, a trade association representing the crop

protection industry, told Reuters Health that the current study did not measure

which types of flavonoids are present in which crops.

This

omission is important, he said, because not all compounds plants use to defend

themselves are healthy for humans. Some may even be harmful, he noted.

McAllister

added that it remains unclear whether the differences in flavonoid content

noted between differently raised plants in the current study will actually

carry over to the supermarket, where they can most benefit consumers.

" It's

hard to tell from this research whether any beneficial effect which might exist

actually carries forth into the marketplace, " he said.

SOURCE: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

2003;51:1237-1241.

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