Sanet folks - To all of you who have been contributing to the organic
nutritional content discussion, please consider this again! We
definately need more research, no doubt about it - but maybe simply
determing calcium content of randomly chosen organic and conventional
apples from one grocery store in Podunk City is NOT what is needed!
Many people want to know whether there are nutritional or flavor
differences between organic and non-organic food, and if so, why.
Unfortunately, this is not an easy question to answer. Many
environmental factors influence the nutritional quality and flavor of
food, including soil type (yes, Dr. Bear, mineral vs. muck soils do make
a difference!), soil moisture, soil microbial activity, weather and other
climatic conditions. Cultural practices, such as crop variety, seed
source, length of growing season, irrigation, fertilization, cultivation,
and postharvest handling and storage will also affect food quality.
Therefore, drawing conclusive direct comparisons about the nutritional
quality of conventional and organic food is difficult, possibly
misleading and expensive.
Research studies, such as the one reported in the Journal of Applied
Nutrition (45:35-39) directly compare the chemistry of conventional food
to organic food. This showed that on a per-weight basis over a two year
period, average levels of essential minerals were much higher in the
organically apples, pears, potatoes and corn as compared to
conventionally grown products. The organically grown food averaged
higher in calcium, chromium, iron, magnesium molybdenum, phosphorus,
potassium and zinc, and lower in mercury and aluminum. A more recent
study out of Australia showed a similar difference between calcium and
magnesium levels in organic and non-organic food. Great - now what?
But, and this is important, simply knowing the absolute quantity of
chemical elements in a food sample may not be particularly revealing if
we don't know what molecules those elements are incorporated into in the
food product. The same simple chemical elements may be organized into
nutritious and flavorful molecules or may be organized into toxic,
unpleasant-tasting molecules or even into molecules that render plants
more susceptible to insects and diseases. For example, Larry Phelan,
entomologist at Ohio State, says that certain amino acids, such as
proline, have been linked to increased insect feeding and egg laying
behavior. A plant slightly deficient in potassium may lack the
essential enzymes necessary to convert free amino acids into complex
proteins. Another plant with adequate potassium might not show
detectable differences in overall nitrogen level, but would contain more
protein, less free amino acids, and might be very different in food
flavor and quality, and even might be much more resistant to insect
attack. But please note, if you were to simply analyze nitrogen content,
there might be NO difference, and the critical potassium difference might
very very slight!
So, anyone got grant money for a REALLY useful study? Mary-Howell
Martens
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