Muscle Diet

Q. With my next fitness competition only a few months away, I need an edge if I’m going to place. Should I buy organic foods to prepare my meals this time? Is going organic healthier?

A. Okay, I’ve been saying this for years, so I’m going to resist the urge to be humble and have one of my “I told you so” moments, as I’ve had in the past with high-protein diets, meat, the MMR vaccine, creatine, etc., etc.…

A couple of years ago, a massive review of virtually every piece of information reasonably available on the subject (almost 100,000 articles) concluded that there is no evidence that organic food results in improved health in humans or animals—except that organic dairy may decrease the incidence of eczema in infants. Actually, I didn’t mention it at that time, but the only organic food I buy on purpose is organic milk, but that’s because it contains slightly more omega-3 essential fats and probably has a better overall fat profile and may have other advantages.

Now a second review of all of the published information on the health outcomes, nutrient content, and contaminant residues of organic versus conventionally farmed food has been published (specifically, a review of 223 published scientific studies). It shows that nutrient levels are the same (except for the nutrient phosphorus) between the two. It does show a fairly minor increased risk of overexposure to pesticides in conventional versus organic, but the difference in the odds of exceeding allowable limits (which are set pretty strictly on the side of low risk in the first place) is low, and it wouldn’t be reasonable to be alarmed by this difference.

Both types of pork and chicken contained resistant bacteria, but organic carried a 33 percent lower risk of containing these bugs. However, as long as you handle and cook these meats properly, this wouldn’t be an issue for people who prepare their foods intelligently.

So unless and until some new and very compelling evidence comes out, there’s probably no significant advantage to eating organically produced food.

To read another article by Mark Gilbert on Organic foods, click HERE.