ORGANIC food really is better for you, says Britain鈥檚 Soil Association. It claims to have amassed convincing evidence that organic food contains more trace minerals and vitamin C than conventional food, as well as plant nutrients such as flavonoids, which are thought to protect us against disease.
Britain鈥檚 Food Standards Agency remains unconvinced, however. It鈥檚 sticking by its conclusion last August that there鈥檚 still not enough evidence to decide one way or the other. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 make a convincing case that there鈥檚 a significant difference between organic and conventional food,鈥� says a spokeswoman. 鈥淭aken overall, there鈥檚 not enough in the report to make us change our minds.鈥�
But the association, which promotes organic farming, claims its report is the most authoritative yet. The Soil Association reviewed previous research comparing organic and non-organic food, and excluded those studies which it felt had failed to compare the two properly. 鈥淚f you only look at the valid research, you get a clear picture that organic food is better for you,鈥� says Shane Heaton, the nutritionist who wrote the report.
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Of 99 studies that compared the nutritional content of organic and non-organic foods, only 29 were valid, he says. The rest included food which was not truly organic. In some studies, for example, 鈥渙rganic鈥� crops had been grown in soil which didn鈥檛 come up to organic standards.
In half the 14 studies comparing mineral content, Heaton found organic food to have higher levels. Non-organic food came out on top in only one study, with the rest showing no significant difference. 鈥淭he studies are quite heterogeneous, but the overall trend is that mineral levels were higher in organic food,鈥� says Heaton.
Vitamin C was found to be between 6 to 100 per cent higher in organic produce, and organic food also contained more dry matter. 鈥淐onventional food is often swollen with water,鈥� says Heaton. 鈥淪o four organic carrots would have the same amount of matter as five conventional carrots,鈥� for example. 鈥淪o there鈥檚 literally more food in organic food,鈥� he says.
Organic manure could explain the differences, Heaton says, because it contains more elements than conventional nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium-based fertilisers.
The FSA however, is reiterating its advice that tiny variations in minerals and vitamins in food are of little importance. 鈥淲hat matters is the nutrient content and overall balance of the diet, regardless of whether the components are organic or conventional.鈥� Bruce Ames, a veteran toxicologist at the University of California at Berkeley, is also sceptical. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 find the Soil Association鈥檚 arguments at all convincing,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he report is not critical science and their bias is pervasive.鈥�
