Is organic food worth it?

Parent Cafe
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<p>“Oh, please. What is wrong with being concerned about chemicals/radiation/etc.?”</p>

<p>Because everything’s a chemical. You wash your fruits / vegetables with dihydrogen oxide before eating them. </p>

<p>Here’s a sample chemical concoction (apologies for the all-caps, but I’m not going to bother to retype it): AQUA (75.8%), AMINO ACIDS (12.6%) (GLUTAMIC ACID
(14%), ASPARTIC ACID (11%), VALINE (9%), ARGININE (8%), LEUCINE
(8%), LYSINE (7%), SERINE (7%), PHENYLALANINE (6%), ALANINE (5%),
ISOLEUCINE (5%), PROLINE (4%), TYROSINE (3%), THREONINE (3%),
GLYCINE (3%), HISTIDINE (2%), METHIONINE (3%), CYSTINE (2%),
TRYPTOPHAN (1%)); FATTY ACIDS (9.9%) (OCTADECENOIC ACID (45%),
HEXADECANOIC ACID (32%), OCTADECANOIC ACID (12%),
EICOSATETRAENOIC ACID (3%), EICOSANOIC ACID (2%), DOCOSANOIC
ACID (1%), TETRACOSANOIC ACID (1%), OCTANOIC ACID (<1%),
DECANOIC ACID (<1%), DODECANOIC ACID (<1%), TETRADECANOIC
ACID (<1%), PENTADECANOIC ACID (<1%), HEPTADECANOIC ACID (<1%),
TETRADECENOIC ACID (<1%), HEXADECENOIC ACID (<1%),
EICOSENOIC ACID (<1%), DOCOSENOIC ACID (<1%), OMEGA-6 FATTY
ACID: OCTADECADIENOIC ACID (12%), OMEGA-3 FATTY ACID:
OCTADECATRIENOIC ACID (<1%), EICOSAPENTAENOIC ACID (EPA)
(<1%), OMEGA-3 FATTY ACID: DOCOSAHEXAENOIC ACID (DHA) (<1%));
SUGARS (0.8%) (GLUCOSE (30%), SUCROSE (15%), FRUCTOSE (15%),
LACTOSE (15%), MALTOSE (15%), GALACTOSE (15%)); COLOUR (E160c,
E160a), E306, E101; FLAVOURS (PHENYLACETALDEHYDE, DODECA-2-
ENAL, HEPTA-2-ENAL, HEXADECANAL, OCTADECANAL, PENTAN-2-ONE,
BUTAN-2-ONE, ACETALDEHYDE, FORMALDEHYDE, ACETONE); SHELL
(E170), ALSO CONTAINS BENZENE & BENZENE DERIVATIVES, ESTERS,
FURANS, SULFUR-CONTAINING COMPOUNDS AND TERPENES.</p>

<p>Oh goodness! You wouldn’t want to eat THAT, would you? Pentadecanoic acid? Octadecanoic acid? That’s got to be bad for you! Emeraldkity is probably already breaking out in hives! And note the formaldehyde and acetone at the bottom - that’s what preserves corpses and dissolves nail polish - no way do I want to eat this?</p>

<p>Another word for this chemical compound is … an egg.</p>

<p><a href=“http://jameskennedymonash.files.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2014/01/ingredients-of-an-all-natural-egg1.pdf”>http://jameskennedymonash.files.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2014/01/ingredients-of-an-all-natural-egg1.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Actually I don’t eat eggs. :)</p>

<p>In any case, I don’t understand why people feel the need to disparage others’ choices. Why is it a problem for anyone else that some of us choose foods with fewer ingredients, prefer (on balance) organic items over those that aren’t, and care about “food miles”? Where I live buying organic often means supporting local farms over big industrial ones from outside the area. And as sabaray and emeraldkity have said, the quality is often better.</p>

<p>Just waiting for the “coal rollers” to show up on this thread. If you don’t know what that means, you might want to google it. It’s basically another way of mocking people for their preferences and convictions.</p>

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Please note the title of this thread. I guess I don’t understand why people feel the need to read discussions that are bound to generate opposing points of view, if they don’t want to know the opposing point of view.</p>

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<p>My thoughts exactly. </p>

45

<p>Hunt, it’s fine to have a difference of opinion. It’s quite another to mock people for their opinions rather than engage in civil discourse.</p>

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<p>I get completely overwhelmed when trying to figure our what to eat–organic vs. not, no carbs, low carbs, fruit/no fruit, etc. One thing that works for me is to stay away from processed foods–even those that are organic. I just feel better and weigh less when I eat simply–fish, meat, vegetables. </p>

<p>I will buy organic produce when it’s available to me. In the summer, there’s an organic farm stand in my area that has great vegetables and I’ll buy from them. In the winter, I’ll go to a local green grocer where there are some organic selections. I figure I am hedging my bets by going organic on produce. I don’t think it’s going to hurt (I do wash all produce really well) and it may benefit me. I have recently abandoned canola oil and corn oil and use only extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil. If I can find an organic version of the last two, I’ll buy it. Have also been trying to get more grass-fed beef. </p>

<p>One thing I’ve learned on this board is that no matter what you post, someone is going to challenge you. That’s fine by me–it gets one thinking about his/her choices, which is always good. That being said, I don’t mean to disparage those whose choices are different from mine.</p>

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<p>I am a scientist by temprament, so I like ferreting out info. I don’t think it is confusing, but I do admit it can be frustrating when for instance I had a couple brands that I liked for processed foods( soup, frozen potatoes, jam, etc) and then find that the mega corp, that bought them has changed the formulation, & taste.</p>

<p>I don’t eat many things with faces, although since I seem to have too much copper, I am having to take zinc to balance it out, and trying to eat more meat, keeping in mind resources used to raise the animals.
I do eat bison, but it is raised locally & and I rationalize it by all the great compost they make. :x
<a href=“Which meat harms our planet the least?”>http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/the_green_lantern/2009/04/the_kindest_cut.html&lt;/a&gt;
I also mostly buy local eggs, there are enough neighbors who raise them, to meet our small demands.</p>

<p>I do admit however that the terms on egg cartons, * are confusing*.
Free- range or cage free? Whats the difference?
<a href=“http://m.humanesociety.org/issues/confinement_farm/facts/guide_egg_labels.html”>http://m.humanesociety.org/issues/confinement_farm/facts/guide_egg_labels.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Free-range go outside and play. Actually, according to some very large egg farmers I recently discussed this issue with since it was a big local thing for a while mostly the chickens were fine either way and even in cages, believe it or not. The whole inhumane thing was an expensive political bruh-ha-ha that means egg prices rise and it has nothing much at all to do with health, quality, or happy chickens. Of course, I am no chicken expert but they were pretty believable people who have been in the business for generations and they spent millions to comply with new regulations that they feel are useless, basically. </p>

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<p>I had to chuckle. I think you would be hard pressed to find someone is less likely to accept that the foods in our grocery stores are safe than I am. I don’t even go down the aisles of the grocery stores. It’s all junk in there. I personally view the vast majority of the products on the grocery shelves as toxic poisons.</p>

<p>On the other hand, I think a major reason that the food supply is such a disaster is the academics, government, and food companies churn out fake health scare after fake health scare, based on really lousy science, which ends up being a license to sell junk food and make people think they are buying something good for them. The LOW FAT label on Red Twizzlers. The HEART HEALTHY WHOLE GRAIN label on Honey Nut Cheerios The food companies love this fake health scare marketing. Cereal that is 40% sugar by weight, and I’m supposed to think it’s healthy because it’s non-GMO while the sugar is killing me?</p>

<p>So there’s a real cost to getting caught up in every new food scare. It distracts us from the big picture: eating a healthy diet. The actual difference between a Fuji Apple and an Organic Fuji Apple is zero compared to the really important components of a good diet – like avoiding processed food.</p>

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<p>@emeraldkity4 - here is a little article on egg label jargon that you may find helpful. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/04/03/understanding-egg-labels?cmpid=foodinc-fb”>http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/04/03/understanding-egg-labels?cmpid=foodinc-fb&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>“In any case, I don’t understand why people feel the need to disparage others’ choices. Why is it a problem for anyone else that some of us choose foods with fewer ingredients, prefer (on balance) organic items over those that aren’t, and care about “food miles”?”</p>

<p>It’s not a problem for me at all what someone else does – have at it! Hey, I buy at Whole Foods too some of the time!</p>

<p>It’s the fear-mongering behind the word “chemical” that I object to. I think there are too many naive people out there who hear “chemical” and don’t realize everything’s a chemical. A given chemical can be beneficial (vitamins are chemicals), neutral (washing your fruit with dihydrogen oxide), or negative. But just saying “ooooh, it’s a chemical, chemicals are bad” I think is problematic. </p>

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<p>Vitamins are chemicals but then again more than 90% of supplemental ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is manufactured in China so I bet there’s a few “extra” chemicals in there too. Better to eat your vitamins C in a citrus fruit, whether it’s organically grown or not. </p>

<p>Legally, organic produce is grown without any synthetic agri-chemicals (pesticides, herbicides or fertilizer). It can be grown with organic chemicals which are usually quite mild (bonemeal) but can get toxic (pyrethrins). Some small farmers grow organically but don’t pay for certification because like any other process, it’s bureaucratic and expensive. Similarly, I heard a farmer say she couldn’t label her canned peaches as organic because the cannery wasn’t 100% organic (in the products it canned). She thought it was better than shipping them across country to an organic cannery. </p>

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<p>Genetically modified is another buzzword. Everything we eat is genetically modified in some way. The specific seeds and strains were chosen specifically and cross-bred / fertilized with one another for very specific reasons - whether that’s to create a larger food item, a more uniform looking food item, a better looking or tasting food item, one that is extra resistant to certain diseases or insects, etc. But, say “genetically modified!” and people get all up in arms - just like they do with “chemical.” </p>

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<p>I buy by price just like atomom.
This thread reminded me that when I was a kid there was a pipe in Edison NJ that you would have to wait in line to fill up your containers with the “natural spring water”. We usually went there in the summer after we finished riding our bikes behind the mosquito truck. We could never get enough of the white cloud of smoke.</p>

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<p>Oh lord, PG. People here are not idiots. Saturday Night Live did a skit a generation ago with a chemical rep who says , “har har, I bet you won’t drink H2O, it’s a scary chemical” and the host says, “you’re right about that silliness, here’s some H2SO4, har har har!” Yes, everything’s a chemical. thanks for the news.</p>

<p>My dad, the chemist, wouldn’t let us play behind the mosquito truck in the DDT fog like the other kids did. What a fearmonger!!!</p>

<p>And genetically modified–you studied bio, I assume, as a doc, so you know, like my H, who studied botany, bio, and medicine, that GMO means that modifications happen cross-species, not in the same species, as has been done for thousands of years, which is a qualitative difference.</p>

<p>So you can judge these concerns as you want, but simple, dismissive contempt is unnecessary.</p>

<p>There is more than enough evidence of the devastation that “chemical” pesticides do to the environment, and to the workers who use them and the people who live near where they are used.</p>

<p>You are too smart and generally too thoughtful for that kind of ham-handed dismissal, and I am surprised, frankly.</p>

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<p>I believe that the grapefruit resulted from cross-species hybridization – a pomelo and an orange.</p>

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<p>People with food sensitivities should look into the histamine levels in foods (and especially leftovers) to see if this could be the reason for some food sensitivities. In some cases it may not be how the foods are treated, but rather the naturally occurring histamines that trigger reactions. Google histamine intolerance. </p>

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<p>pizzagirl - gmo food today is not anything like what has been practiced by humans for thousands of years. Introducing the genetics of a bacteria that is (for unknown reasons) resistant to the herbicide Roundup to the genome of corn, and also adding a gene from the petunia flower is not at all like cross breeding two tomatoes to come up with a third tomato. Especially since this can’t be done by going from one flower to another with a bumblebee, toothbrush or q-tip and mixing the pollen. No, it has to be done in a laboratory by bombarding the genetic material together and hoping that some of it will “stick” rather than be destroyed in the process. </p>

<p>That is how they made “round-up ready” corn and soybeans - plants that were designed to be resistant to mass spraying of the herbicide Round-up. Frankly, I don’t want to eat that! </p>

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<p>Also, unlike what was posted earlier in this thread, the word “organic” is regulated by the USDA. They are quite specific about what that excludes, including gmo products, irradiated foods and sewage sludge (someone’s idea for a new kind of fertilizer?). </p>

<p>Produce that is not organically grown has a four digit code that starts with the number 4. Produce that is organically grown has a four digit code that starts with the number 9.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELDEV3004446”>http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELDEV3004446&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I don’t want to eat corn and soybeans, period. The GMO issue is the least of the worries.</p>