Organic food not quite healthier according to study.

Status
Not open for further replies.
Jericho said:
Penn & Teller said it best in the episode of Bullshit about Organic food.

It's a religion to those who believe in it.

Facts and science will phase no one who is absolutely sure of it. I'm going to step out of this one. I just thought the article was interesting.
Click to expand...


I am not trying to change of thoughts, just maybe give you something to think about. My anatomy and physiology teacher always told us to never accept scientific fact as an absolute fact, just a fact that can change over time in respects to new studies and findings.
 
Last edited:
Maybe it would be a little easier for some of you the word 'organic' was replaced with the word 'natural'?

I don't believe in 'organic'. I do agree with it being a market hype, a label that is slapped on food to get a few more bucks out of the customers. And the customer has no way of knowing if there is anything even remotely 'organic' about the stuff. Similar to the 'fair trade' hype over here right now. Money makers, nothing else.

That said, I do strongly believe that natural food (i.e. treated with no chemicals, non-genetically modified etc.) is by far better than anything you can buy from the shelf. Including the organic stuff.

Due to my dislike of the 'organic' label, I went and did my own research, in the form of going out and having a look at local farms. There are plenty around here, more than I had expected. Most of them had a small shop attached to them, or certain times at which one can go there and get fresh produce.

Is there anything better than organic milk? You bet your behind there is. Try milk fresh out of a cow. From udder to cup. Or if you can't stomach it at that temperature, try from cow to cup to fridge. No additives, nothing. Natural, not organic.

Eggs? I drive up to the farm once a week, pay 1 pound, and get a basket. Then I can go and actually collect my eggs, right from the hens, and have a good look at said hens and the conditions they live in. I can even see what they eat. And believe me, those eggs are a lot better than the so called 'organic' ones, and taste better as well.

Fruit? Same procedure. They give you a basket and you can go into the fields and get your fruit. Okay, it's a bit of work, but I don't mind. There's plenty of stuff you can find out there, not just fruit but veggies as well.

Okay, I still can't be a 100% sure of what these cows and hens eat, or what the fruit and veggies are fertilized with. But let me tell you, the smell of cow dung is a pretty good indication when you come close to the farm. I guess we can never be a 100% sure about what is in our food, but I prefer to have a look at the hen I get my eggs from, and the cow I get my milk from. I just trust my own senses a lot more than a label that somebody slaps on my food.

So, organic - not for me. Natural - certainly. And I do believe that natural food is healthier for us than chemically processed. I don't need any links or studies for that, it's common sense. In addition, being able to see that the hens are outside with enough room to move, and the cows are out in the fields all day gives me a good indication that those animals aren't treated cruelly (within the confines of being born and bred to eventually be eaten, of course). Another bonus. Win-win. And to top it all off.....10 eggs are 1 pound in the supermarket. 10 small, pale, rather boring eggs. For the same pound, I get 15 large, tasty eggs from the farm. I save money (as opposed to organic food which is usually more expensive), I feel I am doing something for myself, the environment and the animals.....win-win.
 
I love P & T's Bullshit. I wish I could afford HBO to see it. Do they have episodes on youtube? That can't be because some of the episodes have nudity in them.


(mod edit: actually it's on Showtime but yes, some episodes has nudity)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
i haven't read any of the links posted here, but here is my standpoint:

organic = $$ != healthier. Organic means nothing. The standards for organic are pretty low and it allows them to add more cost to the same product. Since things are so highly genetically modified for the last 50 years, nothing is "natural" anymore.

bottled water is a joke and a pollutant (both in the container and the plants that bottled it). The standards for bottled water are the same as what comes out of the tap in most developed countries and it's just filling up our landfills. The only difference is taste, not quality.
 
AllCdnBoy said:
The only difference is taste, not quality.
Click to expand...
It doesn't taste better either. If you watched the Penn & Teller clip, they fill some bottles up with a garden hose, then they have a "waiter" feed people this line of bullshit about each of the exotic waters. The customers buy it hook, line and sinker and go on about how great the water tastes.
 
I agree about the bottled water. I don't care for the taste at all. Tap is much better to me. I believe I"ve read before that bottled water is even less monitored by the gov't and health officials as tap is.
 
Guess the water thing depends on where you live. The water that comes out of the tap here smells strongly of chlorine, and if you leave it in a glass for about 24 hours, dark green stuff will start to grow at the bottom. It's disgusting, and I even boil the water that I give my cats to drink.

Unfortunately you're right though, the stuff out of bottles is just as bad, so I put it through a water filter, boil it, then hope for the best. Pretty much all I can do.
 
Organic food is better for you, but maybe not in the nutritional sense. If you focus solely on the nutrients found within organic food, as opposed to non-organic food, then there probably isn't a significant difference. But, if you look at the picture as a whole, then organic food IS better for you. Organic food (if it truly is organic) doesn't have pesticides or any other chemicals added to it. So, in that sense, yes...it's better for you.
 
You mean food in its natural state, right? Without pesticides, additives, anything.

Why does everybody insist on the label 'organic'? It means nothing. Standards as to what can be labelled organic are vague at best, and have been mostly established by the large food companies.

Is food in its natural state better for you than food that has been treated and tampered with? I would most certainly say so.

Is organic food better for you than food that has been treated and tampered with? ... Who knows? It depends entirely on which definition of 'organic' the company who made it went by.
 
San said:
You mean food in its natural state, right? Without pesticides, additives, anything.

Why does everybody insist on the label 'organic'? It means nothing. Standards as to what can be labeled organic are vague at best, and have been mostly established by the large food companies.
Click to expand...


The USDA actually does have standards as to what can be labeled organic food. Do things slip past these laws and regulations? I'm sure.

It is our job as consumers to decide what we put in our mouth. I don't buy "organic" labeled foods simply because it says organic. I buy foods that are made by companies I trust and I always try to buy as locally as possible.

Organic, natural, whatever you want to call it, they are just words, but yes, they do have definitions, why are we arguing semantics?
 
San said:
You mean food in its natural state, right? Without pesticides, additives, anything.

Why does everybody insist on the label 'organic'? It means nothing. Standards as to what can be labelled organic are vague at best, and have been mostly established by the large food companies.

Is food in its natural state better for you than food that has been treated and tampered with? I would most certainly say so.

Is organic food better for you than food that has been treated and tampered with? ... Who knows? It depends entirely on which definition of 'organic' the company who made it went by.
Click to expand...

Kayshiz said:
The USDA actually does have standards as to what can be labeled organic food. Do things slip past these laws and regulations? I'm sure.

It is our job as consumers to decide what we put in our mouth. I don't buy "organic" labeled foods simply because it says organic. I buy foods that are made by companies I trust and I always try to buy as locally as possible.

Organic, natural, whatever you want to call it, they are just words, but yes, they do have definitions, why are we arguing semantics?
Click to expand...

Yes and yes.

There are standards that are put into place by the USDA which regulate the labeling of food products that are deemed to be organic. The USDA doesn't allow 'just anybody' to label their food as organic. The regulations that are set in place are to ensure that food products which are labeled as organic ARE organic.

Now, with that being said, here is some knowledge that the regular, everyday consumer may not know when it comes to food products that are labeled as organic...

When a food product is labeled as organic, it doesn't mean that every single ingredient found within that food product is organic; it can very well mean that only one single ingredient in the food product is organic. Example:

Organic Chocolate Milk

If you see chocolate milk that is labeled as "Organic Chocolate Milk", it could mean any of the following...

- Only the ingredients in the chocolate is organic, but not the milk.
- Only the cacao in the chocolate is organic.
- Only the milk is organic, but not the chocolate.
- Both the ingredients in the chocolate and the milk are organic.

So, how do you know which one you're getting? Unfortunately, you don't. Even though there are regulations that are set in place when it comes to labeling food as organic, the minute details of such labeling have yet to be regulated by the USDA.

And, one thing you need to keep in mind - the practice of enforcing the regulations that make sure the organic foods you purchase are actually 100% done completely on a VOLUNTEER basis. The industry (beef, dairy, poultry, etc) volunteers to have their products inspected by the USDA and it's certified inspectors. Then, and only then, does the USDA even bother stepping foot into the production plants, crop fields, orchards, coops (etc) of the companies that claim to be producing organic food products.

Now, does that mean that all food products labeled as organic contain 100% all organic ingredients? No, it doesn't (those regulations have yet to be defined). But, just keep this in mind - if a food product is labeled as organic, the company that produced that food was confident enough with the validity of their claim that they had no problem volunteering to open their doors for USDA inspectors. Just keep that in mind.

FYI - The company volunteers to have their food products inspected and tested, but they still have to pay the USDA to do such testing.
 
ChefChiTown said:
But, just keep this in mind - if a food product is labeled as organic, the company that produced that food was confident enough with the validity of their claim that they had no problem volunteering to open their doors for USDA inspectors. Just keep that in mind.
Click to expand...

Fantastic point.
Thank you for adding that.
 
Yupp, we're all a bunch of idiots. But that's okay. I like being an idiot, as long as I'm a half way healthy idiot. *grin* <--- smilies still don't work!

Seriously though, I know I've been one of those that was totally against organic, but I tried quite a bit of stuff. Some is worth the extra money, some isn't. I just decided to take the extra step and get my stuff from farms etc., instead of trusting the label. Of course I still don't know entirely what has happened to the food, so to a certain degree, I just have to trust that the peeps on the farm are telling me the truth, just as I have to trust that the stuff labelled organic really IS organic.

Which I guess makes me brainwashed, brainless and oh my, a whacky hippie as well. Better go and get my sunflower and tie dye my t-shirt......*g*
 
Last edited:
KaraCooks said:
Kay, San, and Chef - be careful. I said all of that in this post on the first page of the thread: http://weight-loss.fitness.com/weig...ite-healthier-according-study.html#post703247 and in subsequent follow up posts.

I still got accused of being a brainwashed, brainless, idiot who fell for "wacky hippie concepts" and couldn't stop believing in the "religion" of organic food. I guess that makes us all a bunch of morons, right?
Click to expand...

funny, I never called you brainwashed or brainless or an idiot. In fact, after what happened, I stepped away from this cause I was trying to let it defuse.

But you seem intent on picking that scab.
 
Last edited:
So, just to throw in my 2 cents - the best thing about the 'organic' food label isn't necessarily that it's much healthier for you than normal food. It's that it sends a message.

It sends the message that people care about how their food is produced and processed - and they're willing to put their money where their mouth is.

Without that, the food industry is better off looking for ways to cut corners and cut costs without worrying about the health effects. So even if the organic label is sometimes misused or even meaningless at least it means that the people who care about less processed food are being heard and it might keep even scarier cost cutting techniques from hitting the market. ... I have been called an optimist before though :D
 
The problem is, you aren't really giving a message. It would be different if the organic industry were a bunch of small alternative farmers but a vast majority of the industry are the same big dogs that sells the other stuff. The way the laws and regulations are written gives the companies plenty of wiggle room when they label things organic (as previously mentioned).

They don't care that you think you are helping the enviroment or think you are getting healthier food..they care you spend that extra dollar in their pocket.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top