Organic is everywhere these days, from the cereal we eat in the morning to the aperitifs we sip at night. But amid all the good intentions, some lose sight of the most important things to buy organic, both for their own health and that of the environment. Here’s a list of the top 10 most important products to buy organic, as well as a recap of why it’s worthwhile.
Though governments do attempt to regulate the use of pesticides, several commonly used chemicals have been linked to the following health problems: low birth weight and birth defects, interference with child development and cognitive ability, neurological problems, disruption of hormone function, and the development of cancers, including leukemia, kidney cancer, brain cancer, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Children along with unborn babies suffer more of the effects of pesticides than adults because their bodily systems are still developing. Additionally, in comparison to adults, children are much less able to detoxify most pesticides.
Exposure to pesticides does happen by routes other than the internalization of food, but reasearch shows that reducing pesticide intake via food has an immediate observable effect on body-burden levels of pesticides.
Still, it’s good to be aware of pesticides in all foods, because they can linger in the soil for years after organic production has begun. For that reason, it’s always best to peel fruits and veggies, both organic and conventional, to reduce pesticide intake.
While milk is a natural product, all the antibiotics and hormones that go into high-yield cows most certainly aren’t. Some studies on supplements like recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) used in conventional milk production have suggested links to early puberty and other hormonal abnormalities. Danish studies have shown that not only does organic milk have less of the bad stuff, it has more of the good stuff. Specifically, organic milk has higher levels of vitamin E, omega-3 essential fatty acids and antioxidants.
Though they are a terrific source of protein, most eggs are produced using a range of antibiotics and hormones on the chickens that bear them. Given this, the health gains of eating organic eggs are similar to those of drinking organic milk. Essentially, organic eggs mean fewer hormones in the chicken and fewer foreign hormones (or chemicals acting as hormones) in your body.
Chlorothalonil, often used on potatoes, can be particularly harmful to children. In fact, chlorothalonil was deemed so unhealthy by the state of New York that it was at the center of a lawsuit against the U.S. federal government due to its extensive commercial use. Moreover, in Canada, potato pesticides have been linked to high rates of asthma and asthma-related deaths in farming communities. And no, ketchup doesn’t cancel out the ill effects, so go green on this one.
Poor spinach. It’s actually one of nature’s most healthy “superfoods,” one that nutritionists and doctors keep on encouraging us to eat. But it’s not just E. coli scares that have given conventionally grown spinach a bad name. Spinach is another regular feature on pesticide-occurrence lists, with one sample of spinach in a study having residues of more than 20 different pesticides on it.