I recently attended a lecture where about organic and whole meal foods, where I was told that normal crops are modified to not grow as tall to reduce wasted energy. This leads to shorter roots and less nutrient intake. This makes sense, but I was wondering: if the roots and plant are both smaller, would the concentration of nutrients be the same?
Thanks for any info. I am considering going organic but unsure whether it’s just a fad or not. Price isn’t an issue thankfully, I just want what is healthiest.
Organic food does have a bit more nutrients than non-organic, and also it doesn’t contain pesticides, fungicides, etc.
If price isn’t an issue for you, it is definetly good to also go for organic milk from grass-fed cows, pasture-raised eggs and grass-fed meat.
There are very small increases in nutritional density in “organic” produce. This is not sufficient to justify the price as you can just buy more of the cheaper variety to offset this and still spend less. “Organic” also doesn’t really mean anything, the requirements for its use mean you are paying a premium for no reason much of the time.
See similar things with grass finished beef vs grain finished beef, people like to invent woowoo claims to justify their choice to spend more money on something.
The aversion to GM crops in the “organic” food movement is also a problem. Lets totally ignore the thing that can reduce herbicide & insecticide usage because it sounds bad. The risk of these is almost entirely ecological not human health directly too.
I like pasture raised eggs because they taste better. Any nutritional benefits from that choice are marginal, at best, and I can’t discount that cognitive bias plays a role in how I taste that (as well as sight because the yolks are orange rather than yellow). The cognitive effect of cost should absolutely not be discounted because it has a huge impact; in blind taste tests McDonald’s coffee wins in fast food comparisons but if you ask people what their favourite chain is for coffee you will get Starbucks as the answer.
People think more expensive food tastes better simply because its more expensive. Save your money and just buy normal produce.
GMO crops are heavily sprayed with toxic pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides. This in turn kills the microbiology in the soil which is what is responsible for feeding plants and delivering the nutrients to the roots of the plant. If there is a lack of microbiology there will be a lack of nutrients in the plant or vegetable.
Organic growers and farmers tend to build up soil microbiology instead of kill it like GMO mono cropping does. This will lead to more nutrient dense food. So yes if you can find quality organic food from a farmer you trust it is 100% worth it.