Organic food fight
There is a conference focusing on organic food on in Dublin today and some of the news coming out of it is of interest. A survey from the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and Safefood, the Food Safety Promotion Board published at the conference found that less than a third of Irish people think organic food is healthier than its non-organic equivalent and less than a fifth found it to be “full of flavour and taste” as advocates routinely claim it is. It also found that more than half of Irish consumers have never purchased organic food with cost being cited as the main reason people had not even tasted it.
At the conference a public health nutritionist from the Food Safety authority Dr Mary Flynn said: “There is a widespread belief among advocates of organic food that ecological, low input production systems result in foods of higher nutritional quality. However, although the nutrition and health aspects of organic food have been explored in many studies, there is little evidence that organic foods confer health benefits to humans.” This may be right but this study, which I wrote about in November, seems to conflict with her assertion.
Maybe I am one of those being hoodwinked but I would be in the small percentage of people who believe that organic food – or at least a good portion of it – tastes significantly better than non-organic food and is probably better for you too. A couple of years ago for a feature I did for the paper, I got a group of people to do a blind taste comparison on ten organic and non organic products including chicken, tomatoes, strawberries, cheddar cheese and salmon, lamb and several others, I’ve completely forgotten about. While some things like the cheese and strawberries (weirdly) were impossible to tell apart, the organic meat and fish were instantly recognisable and a million times better.
Conor the nutritionist’s assertion conflicts with one, non-peer reviewed study from Newcastle, but agrees with the general body of science.
As Shane & Ben Goldacre regularly point out with relation to media coverage of science, one study is just that, a study. It is almost always inconsequential next the the whole body of scientific evidence, and if it makes a claim that counters that evidence, it is most usually incorrect.
Point being, don’t muddy the waters with an (as of yet) unproven study - which from your report is highly uncontrolled and subject to about a gazillion external factors.
Comment by Steve K | January 30, 2008 at 4:48 pmI think Dr Flynn’s point is valid as that study has yet to be published, so we can’t really rely on it yet. Also according to reports the study finds benefits only in relation to certain types of organic food.
Hopefully the study shall be published soon as it certainly appears to be the most comprehensive yet.
Comment by Mark | January 30, 2008 at 5:10 pmI must write up a plug for taint.org about the organic box we get delivered to our house every week from Be Organic — they’re brilliant.
Comment by Justin | January 30, 2008 at 5:33 pmSteve, the Newcastle study has not yet been peer reviewed but it is planned to have all the findings comprehensively assessed by independent arbiters in the coming months so it would probably be better to hold off on any definitive comment as to its merits or
otherwise until that happens. I will say, however that just because the early findings disagree with the general body of science does not mean it should be automatically rejected, as many scientists seem keen to do. The “general body of science” has been wrong in the past, hasn’t it?
And Justin, I get an organic box too – from a company called Absolutely Organic – and it’s deadly, if a bit too parsnip heavy betimes!
Comment by Conor | January 30, 2008 at 6:04 pmConor, maybe I explained myself incorrectly. It’s just that if a study goes strongly against the accepted body of science it is usually incorrect, that’s not to say we should discount it, just that it is worthy of our deepest scepticism.
Comment by Steve K | January 31, 2008 at 9:38 am…for example, for every theory of relativity there’s a thousand theories of cold fusion…
Comment by Steve K | January 31, 2008 at 9:39 amIt all comes down to taste for me. Dairy and Eggs no question, they taste better. On fruit and veg I find that organic berries and peppers taste better, but can’t detect a difference with the rest. Free-range and organic chicken taste the same to me, but both heads and tails above battery.
Comment by Deborah | January 31, 2008 at 1:43 pm