Organic Found to Have No Nutritional Edge Over Standard Food

For the study, the researchers searched abstracts databases for details of papers dating from the beginning of 1958 to the end of February 2008, contacted experts on the subject and also manually searched bibliographies.

To be considered in the review, each considered study had to show it was meticulously designed. It had to include evidence of the organic certification scheme from where the foodstuffs were derived, the breed of livestock, the crop cultivar, plus details of lab methods and statistical tools.

The results of their analysis found:

• Out of 52,000 articles, there were 162 that met researchers’ first level of inclusion criteria, but only 55 were of satisfactory quality to be analyzed.
• Conventionally produced crops had much higher nitrogen content.
• Organic crops had a higher content of phosphorus and titratable acidity.
• Of the 13 nutrient categories examined, no differences in organic or conventionally produced foods were found.
• Livestock products that are organically produced showed no nutritional difference than conventional products.

Researchers concluded that, “On the basis of a systematic review of studies of satisfactory quality, there is no evidence of a difference in nutrient quality between organically and conventionally produced foodstuffs. The small differences in nutrient content detected are biologically plausible and mostly relate to differences in production methods.”