Organic Vegetables Prevent Cancer
Organic Vegetables are Better for Fighting Cancer…and Nearly Everything Else: Promoting Health, Disease Prevention and the Environment
Fruit and vegetables that are grown organically have higher levels of antioxidants than conventionally grown foods.
Conventionally grown produce depends on heavy applications of chemical fertilizers, chemical pesticides and herbicides. This "artificial" growing environment inhibits the plants’ natural production of flavonoids, which are valuable nutrients within plants. On the other hand, produce grown organically, without the use of synthetic pesticides or chemical fertilizers, actually promotes the production of flavonoids within the plants.
Additionally, flavonoids are plant by-products believed to protect a plant from infestation by insects, from bacterial and fungal infection, and photo-oxidation. It is also these same characteristics within these plant nutrients that prevent cancer, heart disease, and many age-related dysfunctions (including neurological and ophthalmologic diseases) when we eat foods containing those nutrients.
One of the most significant functions of these miracle plant nutrients known as flavonoids is to protect the cell against damage caused by oxidation. Oxidation caused by oxygen free radicals are the root cause of many disease processes including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and age-related nerve cell damage.
Many studies have confirmed that organically grown vegetables are significantly higher in flavonoids compared to conventionally grown produce.
Furthermore, studies have also shown that conventionally produced foods had higher levels of nitrates and residual synthetic pesticides, and fewer total solids than organic foods.
Additionally, increasing evidence indicates that organic farming gives high yields and is more beneficial to the environment than conventional farming.
According to researchers, supporters of genetically modified foods often deny or ignore this large body of evidence.
Asami, DK, et al. Comparison of the total phenolic and ascorbic content of freeze-dried and air-dried marionberry, strawberry, and grown using conventional, organic, and sustainable agricultural practices. Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry, 2003 Feb 26;51(5):1237-41] [download paper]
