organic > why choose organic?
People choose organic for many reasons. At Living Ethically we believe an organic lifestyle benefits the user, the environment, and ethically - it protects the welfare of animals and often it promotes the welfare of humans in the Third world through Fair Trade.
We also believe that organic food and drink often tastes better, although this is a personal, subjective view. Similarly, we also believe the energy of food and drink is influenced according to how it is produced and that organic methods foster a vitality that conventional food lacks, benefiting human health.
Studies have shown there are nutritional benefits of consuming organic over conventional foods:
- organic food contains, on average, higher levels of vitamin C and essential minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron and chromium.
- in a review of 41 studies from around the world, organic crops were shown to have statistically significant higher levels of vitamin C, magnesium, iron and phosphorous. Spinach, lettuce, cabbage and potatoes showed particularly high levels of minerals.
- nitrate levels in organic food are on average 15% lower. Scientists from Glasgow University have found a link between the levels of nitrates in vegetables and gullet cancer, which has trebled over the last 20 years and claims more than 3000 lives a year. They believe that an increase in the use of nitrate fertilisers since World War II may be one of the main reasons for the rise in this cancer.
- organic vegetables have higher levels (between 10% and 50%) of secondary nutrients. These include antioxidants which help to mop up harmful free radicals implicated in cancer.
- in a survey of organic vegetable soups, researchers found that they contain almost six times as much salicylic acid as non-organic vegetable soups. The acid helps combat the hardening of the arteries and bowel cancer and is responsible for the anti-inflammatory action of aspirin. It is naturally used in plants as defence against disease.
The Food Standards Agency agree that consumers concerned about sustainability (wildlife, pollution, climate change) and pesticide residues can buy organic food.
In some third world counties the misappropriate use of chemicals in agriculture production has health implications for workers and their families. A report by Greenpeace in 2002 found that organic and agro-ecological farming techniques are ideal for food production in the developing world, improving productivity and nutrition at low cost, sustainably and without reliance on foreign commercial interests.
A review of the Soil Association organic standards and farm assurance schemes by Compassion in World Farming in 2002, found that organic standards provide by far the highest levels of animal welfare. It achieved about twice as many welfare criteria for each farm animal species as farm assurance schemes.
So, choosing an organic lifestyle means you buy into a philosophy that is probably more beneficial for your health, is kinder to the environment, safeguards the welfare of animals and enhances the working conditions in agriculture.
Source:
Soil association / facts & figures 2006
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