The UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) has released a report on the health benefits of organic food largely and concluded that there aren’t any.

Dr Dangour, of the LSHTM’s Nutrition and Public Health Intervention Research Unit, and the principal author of the paper, said: ‘A small number of differences in nutrient content were found to exist between organically and conventionally produced crops and livestock, but these are unlikely to be of any public health relevance. 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.’

However, this is not entirely true because in the paper’s appendix, it finds that some nutrients, such as beta-carotene, are as much as 53% higher in organic food, but the author chose to ignore this in his conclusions for some reason…

Unsurprisingly, this report has sparked a barrage of responses - diverse in content. While those who already think the organic pundits are just trying to scare people into spending more money on their food, pro-organic bodies such as the Soil Association and Organic Farmers and Growers are concerned that this report will dissuade undecided customers.

The SA highlights that the FSA failed to include recent findings from a European Union-funded study involving 31 research and university institutes and the publication, so far, of more than 100 scientific papers, at a cost of 18million Euros, which ended in April and concluded:

• ‘Levels of a range of nutritionally desirable compounds (e.g. antioxidants, vitamins, glycosinolates) were shown to be higher in organic crops’
• ‘Levels of nutritionally undesirable compounds (e.g. mycotoxins, glycoalkaloids, Cadmium and Nickel) were shown to be lower in organic crops’.

Also, the FSA makes no mention of the potential health risks of pesticides which is of great concern to people who choose organic. Organic consumers don’t necessarily think organic food is healthier as such - rather, they choose not to buy conventionally grown/reared produce which may come with an added dose of toxic pesticides and/or antiobiotics - not to mention an adverse effect on the environment as a bi-product.

Check out the full report as well as The Ecologist’s response for more info. Then, tell us - what do you think about these findings??