Is eating organic food worth it?

I have often wondered weather paying that bit more for organic food is worth it.  Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t.  I normally buy organic eggs and meat but with vegatables I am really not very consistent.  I know with organic vegatables you get less pesticides but is it worth it.  I know in the past studies have shown that there was no benefit.

However recently researches in France tracked 68,946 adults and decided to compare cancer rates in people who eat organic food and those who didn’t.  They discovered that eating organic food

  • reduces your risk of cancer by 25%
  • reduces your risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma by 73%
  • reduces your risk of post-menopausal breast cancer by 21%

Non-Hodgkins lymphoma is a cancer of the infection fighting white blood cells of our immune system.

They also discovered that those eating organic ready meals where also less likely to develop cancer thant those who rarely if ever choose organic.

While the evidence of the reduce risk of cancer is very clear, and some of the numbers are very high,  I did wonder if there were other lifestyle differences between those that eat organic food and those that didn’t which impacted the results.

Reference

Baudry J, Assmann KE, Touvier M, et al. Association of Frequency of Organic Food Consumption With Cancer Risk: Findings From the NutriNet-Santé Prospective Cohort Study. JAMA Intern Med. 2018;178(12):1597–1606.

Related Posts

  • How to prevent Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness?

    If your training was effective, you should feel some soreness the next day, and for two days at the most. If the second day is significantly worse than the first, and your soreness lasts into a 3rd day or beyond, you have what they call delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS), and it’s a sign that you trained too hard for you.  There are no hard and fast rules on what is too hard as DOMS varies from individual to individual. So now I want to talk about how to prevent Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness.

    1. Anti-Inflamatories
    As DOMS is created as a result of inflamation, in the past it was considered a good idea for those susceptible to DOMS to take anti-inflamatories e.g. ibiprofen.  However the downside of this approach is that anti-inflmatories reduce muscle growth and excessive use can damage your liver.  Hence this approach has fallen out of favour.

    2. Static Stretching

    As its not that beneficial to stretch cold muscles, start with a gentle warm up to wam up your muscles.  So both your joints and muscls are prepared and get the most benefits from stretching.

    3. Constrast Showering

    Ideally after stretching, jump in the shower and give yourself around of contrast hydrotherapy by alternating the temperature between hot and cold every two minutes. The contrast effect has definitely proven to be effective for reducing soreness and restoring muscle performance more quickly when its used the day after the workout, and any other day that a muscle is sore.

    4. Warm Up

    Ensuring that you warm up before exercising by lightly working the same muscles that you are going to train can go a long way to reducing DOMS and injuries. References Vaile JM, Gill ND, Blazevich AJ. The effect of contrast water therapy on symptoms of delayed onset muscle soreness. J Strength Cond Res. 2007 Aug;21(3):697-702.    

  • Calling all vegans and vegetarians…

    Choline is an essential nutrient that humans must get through their diet, the most common food sources are meat, poultry, fish, dairy product and eggs.  Non-meat sources include wheatgerm and brussels sprouts. It is needed to produce acetylcholine an important neurotransmitter for among other things:

    • Memory
    • Mood
    • Muscle control
    Researchers have discovered that taking a daily choline dietary supplement could reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer’s and it should be something that vegetarians and vegans in particular should be doing.  The Arizona researchers estimated that the currently daily recommendations of 550mg for men and 425mg for women can be quadrupled without causing any side-effects, and at these higher levels, choline would have a greater protective effect. Reference https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/acel.13037

  • How to prevent gallstones

    Although no definite preventive technique for gallstone development has been discovered yet, research shows that there are ways people can lower their risk for these stones.

    Refrain From Taking These Medications

    If you are taking any of these medications, remember that the following can increase your risk for gallstones:
    Cholesterol-lowering drugs: Medicines like gemfibrozil (Lopid) and fenofibrate (Tricor) can increase your gallstone risk. Although they may decrease your blood cholesterol levels, these medicines can also increase the amount of cholesterol released in bile. Hormone therapy: HRT is a general term referring to the administration of estrogen or a combination of estrogen/progestin therapy. Increased estrogen levels can cause the body to produce more cholesterol and raise the levels of it in bile. As such, if you are a woman who is undergoing HRT or is taking high-dose birth control pills, talk to your doctor about your gallstone risk and ask if there are other hormone-related medications that are better for you.

    A Healthy Lifestyle Can Lower Your Gallstone Risk

    Decreasing your risk for gallstones begins with a healthy lifestyle, specifically by following these habits:
    Maintaining a healthy weight: People who are overweight or obese have a higher risk of gallstones. Boost your diet with these foods:
    • Unlimited amounts of fresh, organic and vegetables, especially fiber-rich options (just make sure to introduce these foods slowly into your diet, since they can prompt digestive discomfort, especially in those who have had gallbladder surgery).
    • Moderate quantities of high-quality protein from meat ideally organic.
    • High portions of healthy fats from sources like avocados, coconut oil, organic butter, pastured egg yolks and raw nuts like macadamias, pecans and pine nuts.
    The following common practices can also raise your gallstone risk, so it's best to avoid them:
    • Skipping meals or fasting for long periods of time. As much as possible, try to stick to your usual mealtimes.
    • Following diets that promote rapid weight loss.  By rapid I mean aiming to lose more than 1 to 2 pounds, or 0.5 to 1 kilogram, per week.
    • Exercising regularly: Research shows that moderate physical activity can help with increasing the body’s levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) or “good” cholesterol.
    References