Okay, to be fair, organic food isn't likely to make you less
healthy. But it isn't likely to make you more healthy,
either. Reports
Reuters:
Organic food has no nutritional or health benefits over
ordinary food, according to a major study published Wednesday.
Researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical
Medicine said consumers were paying higher prices for organic
food because of its perceived health benefits, creating a
global organic market worth an estimated $48 billion in 2007.
A systematic review of 162 scientific papers published in the
scientific literature over the last 50 years, however, found
there was no significant difference.
"A small number of differences in nutrient content were found
to exist between organically and conventionally produced
foodstuffs, but these are unlikely to be of any public health
relevance," said Alan Dangour, one of the report's authors.
"Our review indicates that there is currently no evidence to
support the selection of organically over conventionally
produced foods on the basis of nutritional superiority."
Want to "go green"? Sure, if that's what you are
into. But please stop lecturing the rest of us about the
alleged benefits of doing so.
About the Author
Doug Bandow is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and the Senior Fellow in International Religious Persecution at the Institute on Religion and Public Policy. A former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, he is author of Beyond Good Intentions: A Biblical View of Politics (Crossway).