Fwd: [SoFlaVegans] Organic tomatoes have more antioxidants

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Ronald A. Fells

 

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Organic tomatoes have more antioxidants

by Duncan Graham-Rowe

05 July 2007

 

http://environment.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg19526114.900 & print=true

http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg19526114.900?DCMP=NLC-nletter & nsref=mg19526114.900

 

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Is organic food healthier for you, after all? A 10-year study

comparing organic tomatoes with those grown conventionally suggests

that it may be. It's the kind of evidence that pro-organic groups

have been desperate to dig up, as most studies have suggested

otherwise.

 

According to the new findings, levels of the flavonoids quercetin and

kaempferol were found to be on average 79 and 97 per cent higher,

respectively, in organic tomatoes. Flavonoids such as these are known

antioxidants and have been linked to reduced rates of cardiovascular

disease, some forms of cancer and dementia, says Alyson Mitchell, a

food chemist who led the research at the University of California,

Davis.

 

Differences in soil quality, irrigation practices and the handling of

harvested produce have made direct comparisons difficult in the past,

says Mitchell. So in this study, due to be published in the Journal

of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the researchers used data from a

long-term project in which standardised farming techniques are used

to reveal trends in crop productivity.

 

Mitchell's team say the finding can be explained by the availability

of nitrogen. Flavonoids are produced as a defence mechanism that can

be triggered by nutrient deficiency. The inorganic nitrogen in

conventional fertiliser is easily available to plants and so, the

team suggests, the lower levels of flavonoids are probably caused by

overfertilisation.

 

Previous research has found no differences between organic and

conventional crops such as wheat or carrots. Meanwhile a study

proclaiming that organic milk had higher levels of omega-3 fatty

acids failed to convince the UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA), which

pointed out that these short-chained fatty acids do not have the

health-promoting benefits offered by long-chained omega-3 oils.

 

This latest study does not prove that a healthy diet must be organic.

The evidence of health benefits for flavonoids is conflicting, says

Peter Bramley at Royal Holloway, University of London. And even if

such benefits exist, higher flavonoid levels do not necessarily make

organic food healthier, says John Krebs, former chair of the FSA and

now at the University of Oxford. " This depends on the relevance of

the differences to the human body, " he says. " Tomato ketchup has

higher levels of lycopene than either organic or conventional

tomatoes. So if you wanted lots of lycopene you should eat ketchup. "

Related Articles

 

* There's not much that's special in organic wheat

* http://environment.newscientist.com/article/mg19225744.900

* 20 October 2006

* Goodness of organic food harmed by processing

* http://environment.newscientist.com/article/mg18524853.200

* 5 February 2005

* Organic ketchup protects against cancer

* http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn6844

* 9 January 2005

 

Weblinks

 

* Alyson Mitchell, University of California, Davis

* http://foodscience.ucdavis.edu/fst/faculty/mitchell.html

* John Krebs, University of Oxford

* http://www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/staff/principal.php

* UK Food Standards Agency Report on organic milk

* http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2006/sep/organicmilkresponse

 

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