>I can't recall whether this has been addressed in this forum before
>or not...but an organic farmer I am working with recalls a federal
>study which found that organic food is superior in some nutrients
>to conventional food.
there exist several studies in europe, which found differences in
nutrient content between conventional and organic food, some
nutrients are higher in conventional food (magnesium, mangan,
zinc), some are higher in organic food (dry matter [not a real
nutrient], sugars, calcium, phosphor and iron, several feeding
studies showed higher contents per d.m. in vitamins).
the result of the different studies are not very consistant about
the percentages, but the overall trend surely is.
results of the contents highly depend on the kind of food,
the year and the field factor (where there's an organic field, you
cannot grow conventional control fruit).
in the average the results differ in the range of +20 to -30%
between the different groups. only exception is leak and the
content of nitrates, here the organic group has about 60-70% less
nitrate in fresh matter.
>She says she recalls that some nutrients were in the hundreds and
>even thousands of percent greater in organic food.
she certainly recalls wrong. that's hype and bad advertisement in
favor or her own interest and serves neither the buyer in the short
nor the organic food system in the long run.
>Does anyone know if this study exists and where to get a copy?
yes, they exist. the most important:
Meier-Ploeger, A., Vogtmann, H. (1989); Oekologischer Landbau und
Lebensmittelqualitaet, Oekologie + Landbau, p. 69 ff.
Karg, G. (1984) Vergleich von Qualitaet und Kosten verschiedener
Ernaehrungsformen. Ernaehrungsumschau 31: 363-372
Fuerst, L. (1983) Qualitaet von Obst, Kartoffeln und getreide. DLG
Arbeitsunterlagen: Zur Qualitaet pflanzlicher Produkte aus modernem
und alternativen Anbau, AI 83,55-58
unfortunately in german, but in general they all come to the
results i mentioned above.
Klaus Wiegand
Landwirtschaftl. Untersuchungs- u. Forschungsanstalt (LUFA)
(Governm. Inst. for Agricult. & Environm. Res.)
67346 Speyer, Obere Langgasse 40 (GERMANY)
Dept. of Seed Sci., Microscop. Analysis & Plant Pathol.
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