Organic diet

Reasons to go organic

The aim of a nutritional support programme for cancer is two-fold: to replenish missing nutrients and to help rid the body of toxins. An organic diet helps with both of these criteria.

Increasing nutrient intake

With organic farming the aim is to cultivate the land in a manner which maximises biological activity and provides a healthy living soil and the best growing environment. The result is food that contains higher levels of nutrients than conventional food and also tastes better.

Did you know?

• A review paper found that organic crops contained significantly higher levels of certain vitamins and minerals as well as lower levels of nitrates than conventional crops ¹
• The authors of another review paper estimated that “on the basis of the currently available evidence, organically grown vegetables will tend to contain 10-50% more phytonutrients than those conventionally grown” ²

Reducing exposure to toxins

Organic food is grown/ reared without the use of pesticides, artificial hormones, antibiotics and other potentially harmful chemicals. Increasing evidence suggests that such chemicals accumulate within the body and lead to damage of delicate systems such as the endocrine and nervous systems.

Did you know?

Five out of the 12 most commonly found pesticide residues in the European Union are suspected endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) ³. EDCs have been linked with increases in breast cancer

25 million kilograms of pesticides are applied to conventional crops each year and residues are found on nearly half of all fruit and vegetables tested ⁴

The UK has one of the weakest pesticide testing regimes in Europe only staple foods such as milk, potatoes and bread are tested annually, and the UK is bottom of a league table of 16 European countries when it comes to test sample sizes ³

The government's safety levels for pesticides are set for individual chemicals. They do not take into account the potential cocktail effect of combinations of pesticides in food, which scientists know very little about ³

Date completed: February 2005 

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References

1. Worthington V. Nutritional quality of organic versus conventional fruits, vegetables and grains. Jn Alt Comp Med. 2001; 7 (2): 161-73.
2. Brandt K, Molgaard JP. Organic agriculture: does it enhance or reduce the nutritional value of plant foods?. Jn Sci Food Agr. 2001; 81924-31.
3. Pesticides. Soil Association in focus. 2002; 1
4. Heaton S. Organic food and health: the evidence. Positive Health. 2001; April33-6.