Is there any evidence for greater nutritional value of organic foods compared to conventional foods?
Although several reviews have indicated some consistent differences in favour of organic versus conventional produce, this is difficult to interpret because some of these studies may not have been conducted in a truly scientific manner. Even so, the best of these studies show consistency in higher vitamin C, (and perhaps iron and magnesium), in organic food and consistently less unwanted and potentially toxic nitrates. A simple reason has been postulated for some of the differences observed, particularly for minerals – organic produce may have lower water content, so minerals (and some other nutrients) may be more concentrated in organic than conventional produce. In recent years this analysis has been extended to include other food components such as antioxidants – potentially important substances in human nutrition – in addition to vitamins and minerals. Levels of antioxidants and some other ‘health-related food components have generally been reported to be higher in organic foods. T
