Researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said consumers were paying higher prices for organic food because of its perceived health benefits, creating a global organic market worth an estimated $48 billion in 2007.To anyone who reads John Stossel, or watches Penn & Teller on ShowTime, this comes as no surprise.
A systematic review of 162 scientific papers published in the scientific literature over the last 50 years, however, found there was no significant difference.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
ScamAlert: Organic Food
Well, well, well. Organic food is a scam. Turns out it's no healthier than "normal food." Who woulda thunk it? Here's Reuters:
1 comment:
Based on the following quote, I am pretty skeptical of this study: "A small number of differences in nutrient content were found to exist between organically and conventionally produced foodstuffs". Three reasons: 1. I don't think most people buy organic to get extra nutrients, they buy organic to avoid the pesticides and chemicals used in "conventional" farming. 2. This makes it sound like they studied the food, not the health of the people eating the food, which in turn assumes that 3. The researchers know exactly what "nutrients" to look for in the food, which I, being a blind follower of Michael Pollan and his assertion that nutrition science is highly flawed, doubt very much.
Regardless, now that the government has control of the term "Organic", it really has no meaning anyway, since adding any additive, ingredient, or loophole to the government's definition of organic is just a lobbyist away. That's why I stopped buying organic and now spend my entire paycheck at the Arlington farmer's market (boneless chicken breast: $12.99 per pound, kidding me?)
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