The Difference and Issues Between Organic and Conventional Foods
The increase in population and limitations in arable and grazing land brought about the need to increase food production given limited resources. Farmers took to production techniques that gave more crops, more livestock in less are in less time. These techniques from scientific researches were able to feed more people at less unit costs. Unfortunately, these techniques such as putting chemical fertilizers in the soil, incorporating additives to the feeds and protecting animals from diseases using synthetic antibiotics brought stress to the health of the land, stress to livestock and disease to human beings. Health and wellness critiques started to look back into organic agriculture and recall the healthier practices of raising livestock and planting crops that put less stress on the environment and less health risk to human consumers.
Marketing organic produce uses the tenets that these foods organically grown are better alternatives for health and wellness. Large businesses that thrive on non-organics are threatened. Some are interested to know the truth behind organics claims. This paper attempts to shed light on the organics issues.
Purpose and Significance of Research
This research is significant because it will clarify what organic food is and how it relates to human wellness and health. Organics for the past five years have inspired interest not only in health and wellness industries but also in discussions that involve saving global environments. Global warming to date has created a global awareness connecting what one person eats and how he lives right to how his environmental footprint affect the global climate change. The research will be objective in its presentation of what opposing groups are claiming. This will highlight their interests and who are what they might be protecting. At best, the paper can help readers do an informed action on employing an organic lifestyle.
Objectives
To define what organic food is in relation to human health benefits.
To list down nutritional values of organic foods, if there are.
To differentiate marketing promotions from the real benefits of eating organic.
Research Questions
What is organic food How is it different from non-organic food Is there a difference in nutritional value between organic and non-organic food What are the health benefits that one can acquire from eating organic food How can organic systems help the environment How do organic farming relate to sustainable agriculture
Background and Rationale
For the next decades baby boomers will be at their 50s and 60s. These baby boomers who fueled the real estate and automobile revolution will fuel the health and wellness revolution. It has actually started. Health and wellness does not only come from food. Health is a reflection of the balance between the different aspects of ourselves (body, mind, soul) and our environment, our experiences, our associations and our food. There cannot be sickness in any of these categories without its being reflected to some degree in all of the others. (Tierra 1980)
Organic foods are produce that comes from organic systems. These farms make sure that the health of the farm animals, edible plants, water source, and soil used is balanced. Environmental protection and agricultural sustainability is prioritized in organic systems over commercialist mode of production.
The benefits from eating organic food is the decrease in health risks due to ingestion of toxic substances that have been administered into plants and livestock. Washing vegetables would remove sprayed pesticides but how sure are we that washing it thoroughly will remove all traces of these poisonous elements. Labels found in these pesticides clearly instruct the farmers to wear protective clothing when spraying these on crops. The warnings on these labels are enough to define health risks when eating fresh vegetables from non-organic farms.
Research Methods
The research will gather data from secondary sources that are no less than ten years old. It will go through collection of findings and tabulate them for critical analysis.
Results and Findings
The results presented in the paper are guided by the fact that there is no perfect objectivity when it comes to food research. Though there are government advice about diets, Nestle in 2007 presented shocking proof that manipulations from the lower to higher echelons of the industry abound. Nutrition advice might be less confusing and far less controversial if it were based solely on scientific knowledge, but research studies are subject to interpretation. Dietary guidelines necessarily are political compromises between what science tells us about nutrition and health and what is good for the food industry. (Nestle 2007)
Given this challenge, the research needed to balance recent findings on the comparisons between organic produce and conventionally grown food at the experimental levels. On the side of conventionally grown food, there is clear vacuum in findings that there is a significant difference in nutritional benefits. On the basis of a systematic review of studies of satisfactory quality, there is no evidence of a difference in nutrient quality between organically and conventionally produced foodstuffs. The small differences in nutrient content detected are biologically plausible and mostly relate to differences in production methods. (Dangour 2009)
However, there are other research that prove specific differences for specific plant species such as the 10-year study on tomatoes. Ten-year mean levels of quercetin and kaempferol in organic tomatoes 115.5 and 63.3 mg g(-1) of dry matter (DM) were 79 and 97 higher than those in conventional tomatoes (64.6 and 32.06 mg g(-1) of DM), respectively. The levels of flavonoids increased over time in samples from organic treatments, whereas the levels of flavonoids did not vary significantly in conventional treatments. This increase corresponds not only with increasing amounts of soil organic matter accumulating in organic plots but also with reduced manure application rates once soils in the organic systems had reached equilibrium levels of organic matter. (Mitchell 2007) With increase in flavonoids, the amount of antioxidant activity increases which is good for the body.
Though there may be no significant difference in nutrient content, there is significant difference in the amount of stress and toxins that conventional protocols subject the environment with. Due to this experience, more and more farmers are going back to the real meaning of sustainable agriculture. Hailing from small vegetable farms, cattle ranches and grain farms covering thousands of acres, producers have embraced new approaches to agriculture. They are renewing profits, enhancing environmental stewardship and improving the lives of their families as well as their communities. (The New American Farmer, 2005)
High nutritional value does not always spell health. Sustaining a healthy body means sustaining a healthy lifestyle and environment. Making sure internal and external environments are healthy, disease cannot prevail inside the human body. The study concludes that although organic food has not been proven to have more nutritional value compared to conventionally grown food, it is evident that health risk due to toxicity from harmful chemicals is higher in conventionally grown food.
The cost of organic food is not deceptive. Since there is yet less demand for it, and less growers using the organic protocol, retail costs are high as described in the Laws of Demand and Supply. But hopes are high because the organic industry is next paradigm shift. Producers and consumers are well on their way in synergizing towards a more sustainable and protected environment.
Marketing organic produce uses the tenets that these foods organically grown are better alternatives for health and wellness. Large businesses that thrive on non-organics are threatened. Some are interested to know the truth behind organics claims. This paper attempts to shed light on the organics issues.
Purpose and Significance of Research
This research is significant because it will clarify what organic food is and how it relates to human wellness and health. Organics for the past five years have inspired interest not only in health and wellness industries but also in discussions that involve saving global environments. Global warming to date has created a global awareness connecting what one person eats and how he lives right to how his environmental footprint affect the global climate change. The research will be objective in its presentation of what opposing groups are claiming. This will highlight their interests and who are what they might be protecting. At best, the paper can help readers do an informed action on employing an organic lifestyle.
Objectives
To define what organic food is in relation to human health benefits.
To list down nutritional values of organic foods, if there are.
To differentiate marketing promotions from the real benefits of eating organic.
Research Questions
What is organic food How is it different from non-organic food Is there a difference in nutritional value between organic and non-organic food What are the health benefits that one can acquire from eating organic food How can organic systems help the environment How do organic farming relate to sustainable agriculture
Background and Rationale
For the next decades baby boomers will be at their 50s and 60s. These baby boomers who fueled the real estate and automobile revolution will fuel the health and wellness revolution. It has actually started. Health and wellness does not only come from food. Health is a reflection of the balance between the different aspects of ourselves (body, mind, soul) and our environment, our experiences, our associations and our food. There cannot be sickness in any of these categories without its being reflected to some degree in all of the others. (Tierra 1980)
Organic foods are produce that comes from organic systems. These farms make sure that the health of the farm animals, edible plants, water source, and soil used is balanced. Environmental protection and agricultural sustainability is prioritized in organic systems over commercialist mode of production.
The benefits from eating organic food is the decrease in health risks due to ingestion of toxic substances that have been administered into plants and livestock. Washing vegetables would remove sprayed pesticides but how sure are we that washing it thoroughly will remove all traces of these poisonous elements. Labels found in these pesticides clearly instruct the farmers to wear protective clothing when spraying these on crops. The warnings on these labels are enough to define health risks when eating fresh vegetables from non-organic farms.
Research Methods
The research will gather data from secondary sources that are no less than ten years old. It will go through collection of findings and tabulate them for critical analysis.
Results and Findings
The results presented in the paper are guided by the fact that there is no perfect objectivity when it comes to food research. Though there are government advice about diets, Nestle in 2007 presented shocking proof that manipulations from the lower to higher echelons of the industry abound. Nutrition advice might be less confusing and far less controversial if it were based solely on scientific knowledge, but research studies are subject to interpretation. Dietary guidelines necessarily are political compromises between what science tells us about nutrition and health and what is good for the food industry. (Nestle 2007)
Given this challenge, the research needed to balance recent findings on the comparisons between organic produce and conventionally grown food at the experimental levels. On the side of conventionally grown food, there is clear vacuum in findings that there is a significant difference in nutritional benefits. On the basis of a systematic review of studies of satisfactory quality, there is no evidence of a difference in nutrient quality between organically and conventionally produced foodstuffs. The small differences in nutrient content detected are biologically plausible and mostly relate to differences in production methods. (Dangour 2009)
However, there are other research that prove specific differences for specific plant species such as the 10-year study on tomatoes. Ten-year mean levels of quercetin and kaempferol in organic tomatoes 115.5 and 63.3 mg g(-1) of dry matter (DM) were 79 and 97 higher than those in conventional tomatoes (64.6 and 32.06 mg g(-1) of DM), respectively. The levels of flavonoids increased over time in samples from organic treatments, whereas the levels of flavonoids did not vary significantly in conventional treatments. This increase corresponds not only with increasing amounts of soil organic matter accumulating in organic plots but also with reduced manure application rates once soils in the organic systems had reached equilibrium levels of organic matter. (Mitchell 2007) With increase in flavonoids, the amount of antioxidant activity increases which is good for the body.
Though there may be no significant difference in nutrient content, there is significant difference in the amount of stress and toxins that conventional protocols subject the environment with. Due to this experience, more and more farmers are going back to the real meaning of sustainable agriculture. Hailing from small vegetable farms, cattle ranches and grain farms covering thousands of acres, producers have embraced new approaches to agriculture. They are renewing profits, enhancing environmental stewardship and improving the lives of their families as well as their communities. (The New American Farmer, 2005)
High nutritional value does not always spell health. Sustaining a healthy body means sustaining a healthy lifestyle and environment. Making sure internal and external environments are healthy, disease cannot prevail inside the human body. The study concludes that although organic food has not been proven to have more nutritional value compared to conventionally grown food, it is evident that health risk due to toxicity from harmful chemicals is higher in conventionally grown food.
The cost of organic food is not deceptive. Since there is yet less demand for it, and less growers using the organic protocol, retail costs are high as described in the Laws of Demand and Supply. But hopes are high because the organic industry is next paradigm shift. Producers and consumers are well on their way in synergizing towards a more sustainable and protected environment.
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