Is sustainable food more nutritious?
Organic produce is good for your health not only because of what it subtracts from your diet—organic farming practices do not use petrochemical pesticides—but also because of what it adds. Nutrition scientist Dr. Virginia Worthington reviewed 41 published studies comparing the nutritional value of organically and conventionally grown fruits, vegetables, and grains, and concluded that organic crops contain significantly more nutrients: 27 percent more vitamin C, 21 percent more iron, 29 percent more magnesium, and 14 percent more phosphorus. For significant nutrients, “five servings of the organic vegetables met the recommended daily intake…whereas the same vegetables produced conventionally failed to do so.” Additional research at Truman State University in Missouri found that organically grown oranges contain up to 30 percent more vitamin C than those grown conventionally, even though conventional oranges are generally much larger than organic ones. Although these figures are hotly de
