Garden Organic is disputing claims made last week on BBC2’s Horizon programme that there is little evidence of organically produced food having any nutritional differences or benefits compared to non-organic food.
Professor Regan’s Supermarket Secrets also led the Midlands-based organic growing charity to criticise the programme for disregarding the environmental benefits it feels organic methods bring.
Garden Organic’s director of research, Dr Margi Lennartson, said: “Despite the programme’s assertions, there is a growing body of evidence demonstrating that organic foods contain more desirable components, such as vitamins and minerals, and fewer harmful ones, such as pesticides and additives.
“New evidence that emerged last year, comparing organic and industrially produced crops, indicates higher vitamin C levels and polyphenols in kiwifruit, higher levels of phenols, flavonoids and vitamin C in apple puree, higher content of vitamin C, B-carotene and flavonoids in tomatoes, and higher polyphenol content in peaches,” he said.
“Milk from breastfeeding mothers whose diets contain a large proportion of organic food has also been found to contain a significantly higher level of conjugated linoleic acids, an antioxidant, than those eating conventional foods.”
Garden Organic also used an extensive £12 million four-year EU Quality Low-Input Food Study, published in October 2007, to back up its statements. The study found that organic fruit and vegetables have health benefits, and in fact contain 40 per cent more antioxidants than non-organic foodstuffs, and higher levels of other beneficial minerals such as iron and zinc.
“It is also worth pointing out that there is no body of evidence showing the health advantages of consuming industrially produced foods over organic,” said Lennartson. “Most concerning, though, is that the programme failed to pick up on the environmental benefits of organic horticulture and agriculture that in turn will have an impact on us all.”
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