Is Organic Food Worth It?
Posted on Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 and is filed under Lifestyle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
The organic food craze has been blazing across America for some time now, but with its high prices, is organic food worth it?
Let’s start by defining what organic food is anyway.
“Organic foods are grown without the use of chemical fertilizer or pesticides and have not been processed using irradiation or added hormones,” says Ashley Mullins, R.D., L.D., CNSC, a registered dietitian at Baylor All Saints Medical Center. “As with any product, it’s important to check the label to determine exactly what you’re getting.”
Products labeled “100 percent organic” must contain only organic ingredients with the exception of water and salt, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Products labeled “organic” must contain at least 95 percent organic ingredients. Products that are made with at least 70 percent organic ingredients are allowed to be labeled “made with organic ingredients.”
Mullins stated that even though organic foods may be higher in price, it may not be any better for your health because there isn’t enough research on the subject to support such claims. Thus, she points out that buying organic may be beneficial to the environment. She also concedes that there are some fruits that are offenders when it comes to pesticides (according to the Environmental Working Group).
They are: apples, cherries, imported grapes, pears, peaches, strawberries, nectarines, lettuce and celery.
