Health Benefits of Organic Food

31 billion tonnes of approximately 350-450 different varieties of chemical pesticides are sprayed onto crops in the UK annually. This (along with chemical fertilizers), research has proven, affects the health of humans, animals and the whole environment.

Intensive farming, introduced after WW2 in order to produce a lot of food very quickly, uses pesticides to protect crops from organisms that may eat or damage them. This might make sense if it wasn’t for the fact that nature provides its own pesticides, as long as the local environment or ecology is not interfered with.

However, nature’s system is too slow for conventional, intensive farming advocates. They say that chemical pesticides must be used in order to produce enough food to meet demand.

The price we pay is a high one. We may find that it is a lot higher than we think, as future research brings new findings to light. So far, we do know that the use of pesticides causes disease in people as well as livestock and wildlife.

Part 1 of this article, benefits of organic food - pesticide free looks into this, and in particular at agriculture in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica is relevant here as a high proportion of UK imported fruit comes from there

We also know that synthetic, chemical pesticides damage land and water. Research has found that soil is eroded in terms of natural nutrients and minerals. Life forms within it are destroyed. This upsets the ecological balance within and around the soil, eventually rendering it infertile.

Of course, the damage isn’t confined within the borders of a field. Those toxic chemicals are transported by air to surrounding areas, and leech into rivers. To learn about these destructive side-effects of the use of synthetic chemical pesticides click here

The main focus of this article is the more immediate effect on human life through the food that we consume.

The good news comes when intensive farming is replaced by the organic system, a sytem that rejects the use of synthetic chemical pesticides.

Contrary to a fairly widespread belief, there have been many research programmes carried out, comparing the effects on human health of conventional and organic systems of food production.

In Part 2 - organic food IS healthier we take a look at some of that research. You will see that the benefits of organic food to human health are considerable. The preliminary results of a 4-year, Europe-wide, EU funded investigation are particularly significant. In terms of the nutritional value of food, organic food has been proven superior to food conventionally produced.

As a person who eats organic only, I am certainly aware of one of the benefits of organic food – taste. The first time I ate a meal consisting only organic ingredients I was amazed. I have heard many people say that their first such experience was like tasting food as a child again. That sums it up exactly.

Organic food is grown with quality rather than quantity and appearance in mind. This can mean that organic produce does not look so uniformly perfect as conventional produce, but it certainly tastes better.

This is due to several elements in organic agriculture; less water used which results in less dilution of natural taste, absence of synthetical chemicals, and freshness. This is all explained in organic food IS healthier

Before learning about the specifics you may like to see an overview of the benefits of organic food. If so please click on advantages of organic food. Please return here and use the links to Part 1 and Part 2 of our article Benefits of Organic Food for more in-depth information.

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