Organic vs. conventional

Health activists have been yelling about organic foods for a long time. Make sure you get organic bananas! Get hormone free milk! Watch out for those eggs, their not natural! After hearing so many people say this, you may wonder yourself, what's so great about organic foods anyway? Scientists themselves have asked that and have now done some research. American's eat about 220 pounds of meat a year. That's a lot of pork, beef, and most importantly, chicken. However, so much of the meat is laced with antibiotics and growth hormones used to raise the animals. This can result in a while variety of health issues such as early puberty. Conventional raised animals are also often kept in tight areas in order to save room, increasing the risks of diseases transferring from one animal to another and increasing the risk of the meat people eat having it as well. Meat isn't the only thing that has become more dangerous to eat. Vegetables and fruits, the things we know are to be healthy, may be harmful as well. With a lack of land emerging, more farmers have to use large amounts of pesticides and fertilizers in order to grow food. This can come back and infect the foods. However, organic is worse for the environment in some ways. Often times, they use up a lot more land to grow the same amount of food as conventional methods.

After research, scientists agree that organic food is indeed better. In a test done between organic and conventional eggs, organic eggs had higher amounts of vitamin A and omega 3-acids. Organic milk comes from cows who were not treated with antibiotics or hormones. This reduces the risk of bacteria becoming drug resistant as well females reaching puberty faster due to the hormones. Organic beef also had a higher ratio of omega 3 acids. Not only that, there were less traces of E. Coli. A majority of organic fruits and vegetables also had less traces of pesticides. Many testers also agreed that organic foods tasted better.

So, people now know that when people shout that organic food is better, it's true. Though organic food may benefit a person's health, it doesn't exactly benefit our wallet. Organic milk costs nearly $3.50 more than conventional milk. Organic beef costs about $2 per pound more than conventional. In a recession where money is tight, now might not be the best time to switch to organic foods. Also, organic food is a lot harder to find. Though parents, if you want to raise an extremely healthy child, organic is the way to go.

Time Volume 176, Number 9. 2010