The last study I reviewed showed exposure to pesticides increased the risk of children developing autism. Now here is a study showing that organic produce not only protects you from pesticides it also protects you from heavy metals and has more vitamins and minerals than conventionally grown produce. It should come as no surprise that organically grown produce has lower concentrations of pesticides. One of the staples of organically grown produce is that it is grown without using synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. But this study goes into much greater depth about the benefits of using organic farming methods showing a significant increase in vitamins and minerals in organic vs. conventional produce.

This study is very interesting as it was done by reviewing all papers published in the last 20 years and included over 300 studies that looked at conventional and organic produce. The studies included were analyzed and grouped based on the quality of the research and by what they were looking at. For example if the study was evaluating antioxidants, pesticides, heavy metal contamination etc.

Results from this comparison study showed that of course organic produce has fewer pesticides. Their results showed conventionally grown produce had, on average, 4 times higher the amount of pesticide residue. You would expect the organically grown produce to have no pesticides at all, but pesticides can be resilient and last in soils for long periods or there can be cross contamination from non organic fields nearby. This is one of the reasons it can take years for a farm to be certified organic as the soil is regularly tested to verify there is no residue remaining. It is important to note that fruits and berries in particular have higher pesticide residues due to the softer more porous skin. This is why it is important to rinse and clean all produce, organic or not.

The organic produce also had significantly lower concentrations of Cadmium. This is one of only 3 metals that limits are set for our exposure to, the others being lead and mercury, and it is just as toxic as those two. It is part of the residue found after using pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. And you thought your kids could only be exposed to heavy metals by eating paint. Did you know they can get it from eating an apple too?

So that’s the bad stuff you don’t want, how about the good stuff you do want? Well organic produce has up to 60% higher concentrations of antioxidants and their related compounds than the conventionally grown fruits and veggies. This means if you are following the dietary guidelines stating you should have 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day, you would have to add 1-2 servings of conventionally grown produce to get the same amount of antioxidants in 5 servings of organic produce. Still think regular produce is cheaper than organic if you have to buy twice as much? I won’t go into the details of how good antioxidants are here in this review you can read about them here and here or here. What I will say is they have been shown to be beneficial to many functions of our bodies and play a key role in healthy eating.

Keep in mind all of the benefits of organic I’ve covered don’t only apply to fruits and vegetables it also goes for wheat too. In general wheat has a bad reputation when talking about a healthy diet and I agree it should not be the major source of calories in your diet. However, I believe part of reason it has this bad image is because of the type of wheat most prevalent in the western diet. The wheat most commonly eaten is conventionally grown and heavily processed to strip it of any nutritional value. Organic whole grain wheat is full of antioxidants, vitamins, fiber and can be part of a healthy diet in moderation. It is also why organic meats are healthier for  you because the animals are eating a healthier diet themselves.

So the next time you find yourself in the grocery store don’t just look at the dollar difference of organic think of the cost to your health.

By Dr Scott Szela