Health and diet are one of the most common topics that is involved in discussion, debate and daily talk. Health-conscious person understand why it is important to focus on good diet, what food we should be eating daily and how to focus on family health. Health-conscious individuals buy fresh produce, cook food at home and be selective while eating out. One of the important issues that these individuals should be concerned about is “where the produces are coming from, how they are grown”.

When you buy fresh produce from market you feel good about it. You will bring it home, wash it, process it and cook it to eat. However, have you checked whether the vegetables that you purchased and brought home are pesticide free?  When we buy fruits like grapes, oranges, apples – it is easy to identify pesticide mark on the fruit skin as it is easily visible to naked eye. But, when you buy vegetables, most of the time it is hard to see presence of any chemicals. Once you bring produce home, there is no guarantee that washing produces will remove chemicals totally from the surface. According to studies, residues of pesticides will be still present on the surface.

Research conducted on dietary exposure of nearly 5000 people from various cities of US. Analysis of organophosphates also known as OPs. OPs are linked to several conditions and known to have severe health effects, especially of farmers who are often exposed to insecticides. IN children these chemicals are linked to brain damage.  These are most common insecticides used in conventional method to grow vegetables.  Analysis showed that those individuals consuming conventionally grown vegetables and even fruits had significant number of OPs in their system.

 Try organic produce for a week and see the difference:

In the same study individuals who consumed organic produce had significantly lower levels of OPs in the system. Researchers were able to analyses OPs in both categories based on the amount and type of vegetables and fruits each participant typically consumes and the US depart of Agricultures’ measurements of chemical residue levels on those produces. Urine samples of the consumers were tested to compare the organophosphate pesticide levels.

In those individuals who consumed organic foods for a week, there was 95 percent drop in malathion (which is linked to brain damage in children). Another pesticide namely Neonicotinoids was dropped to 83%. This chemical is linked to loss of useful insects and pollinators.

Eating organic is healthy and organic foods taste better:

Above study was conducted by University of California and earlier similar studies were conducted by Cynthia Curl an assistant professor in Boise University School of Allied Health Sciences.

We as consumers eating organic food is not only best for our health, it is also good for farmers and workers those work in Agriculture field. When we consume organic food, demand for organic produces grows and keeps them healthy too. Conditions like autism, cancer, infertility, poor growth – these are prevalent in farmers and workers community. Chemicals that are used to control the pests and other insects can only harm us. If we use more organically grown food, it helps farmers to sustain. In addition, we consumers get good health benefits. A small amount of exposure to pesticide and its residue can result in hormone imbalance, brain damage, asthma, infertility, impaired cognitive development in children, vision problem, allergies etc.

Is eating organic produces solves the issue of pesticide intake?

Chance of exposure to pesticide reduces when you consume organic produce. It does not mean you should stop focusing on cleaning and  washing of produces once you bring home. It is important to note that, there will be cross contamination and could be other type of contaminations (like E. coli) when you buy any types of produces.  

Growing organic foods in your own garden:

As we all know buying organic food is costly for various reasons. This should not stop anyone from having access to healthy food. If you have place at home to grow your own vegetables, then try organic means or join community organic gardens where your neighbors and community members can grow and share organic produces. Support local farmers – go to local market with friends and families to buy organic foods. This is not only to support farmers, also to get organic foods at lower price.

For yours as well as your family’s health try organically grown foods.

References:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150205174835.htm

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30765100/

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