ORGANIC FOOD: THE BASIC NEED OF HEALTHY PERSON
ORGANIC FOOD:- Organic food refers to the way agricultural products are grown and processed. Organic crops must be grown without the use of synthetic pesticides. On an overall basis, organic food is food prepared and processed without using any chemicals. That is, organic food production does not involve the use of chemical fertilizers, chemical pesticides, or chemical preservatives.
The benefits of organic food:- How your food is grown or raised can have a major impact on your mental and emotional health as well as the environment. Organic food often have more beneficial nutrient, such as antioxidants, than their conventionally grown counterparts and people with allergies to food, chemicals, or preservative often find their symptoms lessen or go away when they eat only organic foods.
· Organic produce contains fewer pesticides.
· Organic food is often fresher
· Organic farming is better for the environment.
· Organically raised animals are not given antibiotics, growth hormones, or fed animal byproducts.
· Organic food is GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) free.
Healthy effects of organic food:-
In general, organic food consumers, manufacturers, and farmers strongly believe that organic food has the following benefits compared to conventional food.
Antioxidant capacity:- A number of studies have been completed regarding the effects of antioxidants derived from organic foods on your overall health, and the predominant results have shown that antioxidants tend to have more of an impact when they come from organic foods. This may be due to the fact that foreign chemicals are not negatively interacting with the different vitamins, minerals, and organic compounds that are so essential for the positive impact of fruit and vegetables in the prevention of things like cancer, heart disease, premature aging, vision problems, and cognitive malfunction.
Pesticide Reduction:- One of the major complaints that organic food consumers cite when choosing organic over non-organic is the presence of pesticides. In order to keep crops from being attacked by the natural world, including bugs, pesticides are required. Although they do a good job keeping certain pests away from the crops, they also are composed of powerful chemicals like organophosphorus. This is an unnatural mineral compound that is not required by humans, but more than 80% of this material in our bodies comes from eating pesticide-coated foods. Organophosphorus has been connected to a number of developmental problems, including autism and ADHD, so those organic food lovers do have a pretty strong argument in this case. To be fair, many people do choose to go organic to make sure that their children grow up healthy and unaffected by the toxins of the world during their developmental years.
Heart Health:- Increased amount of time grazing on grass also increases the amounts of CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) that can be found in the animal products. CLA is a heart-healthy fatty acid that can boost cardiovascular protection, and it is found in higher quantities in breast milk and in meat for animals that have been raised free range or cage-free.
Immune System:- In recent decades, one of the biggest projects for farmers and food growers has been genetic modification. Making tomatoes six times larger might sound like a possible option for solving some world hunger issues, but there is another side to it. Genetic modification is still in its early stages, so the long-term effects of it on human health aren’t understood as well as we would like. In animal testing genetically modified food showed a major reduction in immune system strength, an increase in birth mortality, as well as in certain sexual dysfunctions, cancers, and sensitivity to allergens. Although there are some good things about genetically modified food, organic food advocates point to the lack of concrete details about the long-term effects.
Antibiotic Resistance:- People are very sensitive to issues of their health, and they often take precautions to make sure they remain healthy, like getting various vaccines and taking antibiotics as soon as a new strain of bacteria makes them ill. However, non-organic food sources, particularly livestock and feed houses, also use antibiotics to feed their animals. This extra dose of antibiotics may actually be weakening our immune system by basically overdosing on antibiotics, thereby reshaping our immune system so many times that it will eventually be unable to defend itself. Organic food growers and dairy farmers do not use antibiotics in their processes.
Overall Health:- Since organic food is not prepared using chemical fertilizers, it does not contain any traces of these strong chemicals and might not affect the human body in negative ways. Natural fertilizers, like manure, work perfectly fine, and organic farmers are happy to use this smellier, yet safer, form of fertilizer.
Better Taste:- Some people strongly believe that organic food tastes better than conventional food. The prominent reason for this belief is that it is produced using organic means of production. Furthermore, organic food is often sold locally, resulting in availability of fresh produce in the market, which usually does taste better than produce that has been frozen, shipped, and transported across long distances.
Environmental Safety:- As harmful chemicals are not used in organic farming, there is minimal soil, air and water pollution; thus ensuring a safer and healthier world for future generations to live in.
Animal Welfare:- Animal welfare is an important aspect of producing organic milk, organic meat, organic poultry, and organic fish. People feel happy that the animals are not confined to a miserable caged life when they eat organic animal products.
Organic Food Products:-
Organic Milk:- Recent research conducted on organic milk has shown that it has more antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids, CLA, and vitamins than non-organic milk. According to the researchers at the Danish Institute of Agricultural Research at the University of Aberdeen and the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, organic milk is healthier than non-organic milk, since organic cows are pasture grazed which results in the better quality of milk.
Organic Tomatoes:- According to a 10-year study conducted by the University of California, Davis, organic tomatoes are produced in an environment that has a lower nutrient supply since nitrogen-rich chemical fertilizers are not added. This leads to an excessive formation of antioxidants, such as quercetin (79% higher) and kaempferol (97% higher) in organic tomatoes. As we all know, antioxidants are good for health and help in reducing heart disease and the chances of developing cancer.
Future aspects of organic foods:- The interest in Organic Food, which began in 1950, has been growing steadily and it accounts for 1-2% of the total food sales worldwide. The Organic Food market which has been growing since early 1990 is expected to reach 10-50% annually depending on the county.
Thus, it should be possible to have sufficient food for future generations if we make the needed investment to develop and distribute new agricultural knowledge, the developed countries share their knowledge and experience with the less developed ones, and the developing countries are diligent enough to improve their agriculture and reduce the rate of growth of their population number. Scientific and technology improvements will help meet the food need of the future.
Research Finding On Organic Food:-
· Organic foods reduce the incidence of cancer by 30-60 per cent.
· Organic food has lower protein concentration but of better quality in some cereal crops.
· The flavonoids in apples is higher in organic when compared to the conventional apples.
· Organic tomatoes contain higher lycopene content when compared to the conventional tomatoes.
· Organic crops contain lower amounts of some heavy metals compared to conventional ones.
· Organically grown peaches and pears contain higher levels of total phenolic compounds compared to conventional grown ones.
ROHIT VERMA