Organic food contains more ‘good things’: finds EU study

Back in 1939 Lady Eve Balfour, the Soil Association’s (SA) founder, conducted a 30-year trial on her farm in Suffolk comparing organic to non-organic methods with the aim of understanding and demonstrating beneficial differences.

Nearly 70 years on and a £12 million, four year long study, has indicated that organic fruit and vegetables contain 40 per cent more antioxidants, believed to cut the risk of heart disease and cancer, in organic produce compared to non-organic foodstuffs.

The Quality Low Input Food (QLIF) study, which is funded by the EU, also found organic food contained higher levels of other beneficial minerals such as iron and zinc.

The SA agrees with Professor Carlo Leifert, co-ordinator of the project: ‘There is enough evidence now that the level of good things is higher in organics.’ While Balfour and consumers opting for organic were already convinced, this ripe evidence is important for shaping future farming and production methods and convincing sceptics including the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

The FSA says on its website: ‘Consumers may (also) choose to buy organic food because they believe that it is safer and more nutritious than other food. However, the balance of current scientific evidence does not support this view.’

Leifert would like the FSA ‘to now recognise and publicly acknowledge the nutritional benefits of organic food produced through well-managed organic farming systems.’

The research now adds to a growing body of evidence. In March 2007, three new independent European research projects were published that revealed that organic tomatoes, peaches and processed apples all had higher nutritional quality than non-organic. Other research has also found more ‘good things’ in other organic products, such as kiwis, milk and tomato ketchup.