French Study Contradicts FSA’s Opinion on Organic Food Benefits
A report just published by the French Agency for Food Safety (AFSSA), the equivalent to the UK’s Food Standards Agency has described organic foods as being better for you,contain less pesticides and nitrates, both of which have been linked to a range of health problems including diabetes and Alzheimer’s.
This up-to-date exhaustive and critical evaluation of the nutritional quality of organic food has found organic foods have higher levels of minerals and antioxidants, counter opposing the recent FSA report that questioned the benefits of growing and consuming organic foods.
Published in the peer reviewed journal Agronomy for Sustainable Development this review carries substantive scientific opinion. It defines a number of advantages provided by the organic food production methods.
Organic Food: Is It Better For Us and The Environment?
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Comment: A recent report by the Food Standards Agency has raised a number of questions and as usual the opposing sides have found grist to their respective mills in the ongoing discussions. A letter in the journal Science on the 7th August 2009, reproduced below, offers a considered critique and overview of the merits of continuing to develop and consume organic food stuffs.
The immune system is prone to the same grave misfortunes as any defense system handling weapons: collateral damage that comes with the destruction of the enemy on one’s own territory and friendly fire due to mistaken identity. Whereas the collateral damage is the price we pay for clearance of infections, autoimmunity is a pathological process. Nevertheless, the effector mechanisms involved in both processes are the same. Whether environment can be a cause, a trigger or an amplifier of an autoimmune disease are questions that are being intensively investigated.
