Why Organic? Aren't All Vegetables The Same?

If you are already aware of why buying 'organic' is worthwhile, stop reading! On the other hand, if you are someone who wonders why the hell I would pay any more for a banana that appears to be identical to another banana at a fraction of the cost, read on. Sometimes I get shit from people for being crazy, but I have good reason! Or at least good intentions. Excerpts are from The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

"Of course, the healthfulness of food is not simply a question of its toxicity; we have also to consider its nutritional quality. Is there any reason to think my Whole Foods meal is any more nutritious than the same meal prepared with conventionally grown ingredients?

...Back in the fifties, when the USDA routinely compared the nutritional quality of produce from region to region, it found striking difference: carrots grown in the deep soils of Michigan, for example, commonly had more vitamins than carrots grown in the thin, sandy soils of Florida. Naturally this information discomfited the carrot growers of Florida, which probably explains why the USDA no longer conducts this sort of research. Nowadays, the U.S. agricultural policy, like the Declaration of Independence, is founded on the princple that all carrots are created equal, even though there's good reason to believe this isn't really true.

But in an agricultural system dedicated to quantity rather than quality, the fiction that all foods are created equal is essential. This is why, in inaugurating the federal organic program in 2000, the secretary of agriculture went out of his way to say that organic food is no better than conventional food. 'The organic label is a marketing tool,' Secretary Glickman said, 'It is not a statement about food safety. Nor is 'organic' a value judgment about nutrition or quality.' 


Some intriguing recent research suggests otherwise. A study by University of California-Davis researchers published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry in 2003 described an experiment in which identical varieties of corn, strawberries, and blackberries grown in neighboring plots using different methods (including organically and conventionally) were compared for levels of vitamins and polyphenols. 

Polyphenols are a group of secondary metabolites manufactured by plants that we've recently learned play an important role in human health and nutrition. Many are potent antioxidants; some play a role in preventing or fighting cancer; other exhibit antimicrobial properties. The Davis researchers found that organic and otherwise sustainably grown fruits and vegetables contained significantly higher levels of both ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and a wide range of polyphenols. 


SKIPPING AHEAD...

Why in the world should organically grown blackberries or corn contain significantly more of these compounds? The authors of the Davis study haven't settled the question, but they offer two suggestive theories. The reason plants produce these compounds in the first place is to defend themselves against pests and diseases (*my clarification--which they no longer need to make themselves since they are sprayed in chemical pesticides)...A second explanation...may be that the radically simplified soils in which chemically fertilized plants grow don't supply all the raw ingredients needed to synthesize these compounds, leaving the plants more vulnerable to attack, as we know conventionally grown plants tend to be...


Obviously there is much more to be learned about the relationship of soil to plant, animals, and health, and it would be a mistake to lean too heavily on any one study. It would also be a mistake to assume that the word 'organic' on a label automatically signifies healthfulness, especially when that label appears on heavily processed and long-distance foods that have probably had much of their nutrtional value, not to mention flavor, beaten out of them long before they arrive on our tables."

 All this is to say that I, in my everyday quest for health, do think there's a difference between the veggies sold at Wal-Mart, the veggies at Whole Foods, and even the veggies sold from your local farm co-op.

I don't know what the hell is being put on the conventionally, industrial farm stuff, so I am trying to make better choices in this area. I do think that eating veggies and fruits from Wal-Mart is better than eating none at all. Lesser evil and all.

The reality is that it's often more expensive and it's often hard to figure out whether something is industrial organic or small, local farm organic. I was just talking with a friend today about how the produce at Sunflower Market and Sprouts is, like other grocery stores, divided into organic and non-organic, though one would assume that everything in those stores is organic. I still have to read labels!