Nutritional quality of foods
There is a paucity of evidence showing that the nutrient content of organic foods can be modified by growth conditions, and a lack of studies using single varieties of foods grown in similar localities under tightly controlled conditions and of assessment methods sensitive enough to detect the impact on human health of any diet that is still nutritionally adequate.
Abstract
Publisher Summary Diet plays an important role in most of the chronic diseases that are the largest causes of morbidity and mortality in the developed world. In a “reductionist” approach, scientists have made the role of individual nutrients in the maintenance of health the focus of their research. This approach, and in particular the discovery of essential nutrients and their roles in disease prevention, has been instrumental in the elimination of deficiency diseases in large parts of the world. However, nutrients are not consumed in isolation, but as components of whole foods and in an infinite number of combinations. In addition, foods contain a myriad of chemicals, which either serves no role in human metabolism or for which the role has not yet been elucidated. There is a widespread belief among advocates of the organic lifestyle that ecological, low input production systems result in foods of higher nutritional quality. While it has been demonstrated in a large number of analytical investigations that the nutrient content of organic foods can be modified by growth conditions, there is a paucity of evidence showing that these changes can result in measurable health benefit, most importantly in humans. Current data are mostly confounded by poor experimental design; in particular, there is a lack of studies using single varieties of foods grown in similar localities under tightly controlled conditions and of assessment methods sensitive enough to detect the impact on human health of any diet that is still nutritionally adequate.