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By now we've learned the drill: organic is best. However, not everyone has the budget required to switch totally to organic foods. Thankfully Dr. Andrew Weill has put together a list of 11 fruits and vegetables that are OK to buy in their conventionally grown form. In alphabetical order, the list is as follows: Asparagus, Avocados, Bananas, Broccoli, Cabbage, Corn, Kiwi, Mangos, Onions, Pineapples and Peas.
I'm guessing that most of these items are on the list because they have fairly burly skins or peels that protect them from absorbing too much in the way of pesticides. I'm a little stunned that broccoli is on the list as I would have thought that its many little flowers would happily soak up problematic chemicals.
But, on the flip side, you might be wondering exactly what produce is best to buy organic? The Environmental Working Group has created a guide that can be printed out in handy wallet guide form. Check out our gallery of these 12 foods that really are the best organic investment.
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So there it is. Consider yourself slightly better informed about buying organic than you were five minutes ago.
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10-05-2007 @2:50PM ann marie said... i think the cold season crops like broccoli, peas, cabbage and asparagus are on there because bugs dont start to bother plants till it warms up more.
there are some foods i prefer to buy organic....strawberries, peaches, leafy greens, and citrus if i could find it...they use systemic pesticides in citrus production so there tends to be bad stuff in the fruits....greens tend to absorb and store lead and other heavy metals...greens, peaches and strawberries go thru post harvest chemical processes i find horrifying.
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10-05-2007 @2:45PM Laughingrat said... A useful list, thank you!
I've heard that sometimes certain vegetables are safer to buy non-organic because of the way they're grown. Presumably not every vegetable or location requires the same amount of pesticides or fertilizers, so they're less dangerous by virtue of those intrinsic properties. So that may be the case with some of the ones on Weill's list!
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10-05-2007 @3:22PM Amanda said... But wait, there's more!
Dr. Weil's list is taken directly from the Environmental Working Group's Food News project, where we highlight 43 different fruits and veggies, from the Dirty Dozen to the Cleanest 12. We've even got a wallet-guide you can download to carry with you to the store. http://www.foodnews.org
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10-05-2007 @3:39PM wescraig said... Here's a fun perspective on EWG:
http://www.activistcash.com/organization_overview.cfm/oid/113
I think better than "buy organic" would be "understand where your food comes from". I think the idea of the USDA Organic standard reflects that idea, but the implementation suffers from the same people who pay for activistcash.com.
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10-05-2007 @5:56PM Barry said... That is a funny link! The evil cabal of organic marketers spreading lies against the use pesticides. Darn them!
I agree with wescraig on the better to know where your food comes from although. Just read The Omnivore's Dilemma and I'm not looking to the feds to tell me what organic is anymore. At this point the word is tainted.
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10-05-2007 @10:38PM Sean said... While it may be true that organic farmers may (but not necessarily) produce better product, it is on no way connected to th euse of pesticides or fertilizers. Every peer-reviewed study has shown the same levels (sometimes more!) of carcinogens, mutagens and so forth in veggies and fruits grown organically.
Buying due to gut feelings is fine, and how most people show. But the science doesn't backup the organic posturing.
Cheers!
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10-05-2007 @10:43PM lauralemay said... I think broccoli and cabbage are OK because the bugs that pester them are most often controlled with Bt -- which is a bacteria. Both organic and, um, inorganic growers use it. Odd that cauliflower isn't on that list, though.
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10-06-2007 @2:16PM Barbara said... Sean--I think that you and I are reading different peer review studies. One notable example found that children fed organic fruits and vegetables had less pesticide load in their body tissues than those fed conventional produce. That same study found that if you switched a child to organic produce after eating conventional produce, the pesticide levels in their bodies dropped significantly after a month of eating organic.
How do you explain that, if there is not a significant difference in pesticide residue on organic and conventional crops?
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10-08-2007 @6:56AM Beany said... It's both amusing and depressing to see organic agriculture considered only in terms of consumer health. I personally buy local organic produce because I believe it's better for the environment of the area it's produced in- any health benefits are a bonus.
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10-08-2007 @10:31AM jsmylie said... There's also the taste. Organic is often just...better.
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10-11-2007 @6:40AM vegetable freak said... NATURAL PESTICIDES, PEOPLE, NATURAL PESTICIDES!
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10-11-2007 @7:14AM tom obrien said... PLEASE PEOPLE ORGANIC IS A MYTH CREATED BY ENVIREMENTAL GROUPS. ONE PERSON WAS TOLD STRAWBERRIES GO THRU A POST HARVEST CHEMICAL WASH,WHO TOLD YOU THIS. I AM A CONVENTIONAL STRAWBERRY GROWER AND EVRY 2 WEEKS SEND SAMPLES PICKED THRU OUT MY FIELDS TO A INDEPENDENT LAB TO TEST FOR PESTICIDES AND HAVE NEVER HAD ANY DETECTABLE RESULTS OF PESTICIDES. YOU HAVE NOT HEARD TOO MUCH ABOUT THE E-COLI PROBLEM COMING FROM ORGANIC FIELDS?? BOTTOM LINE IS ALL FRUITS AND VEGETABLES ARE GOOD FOR YOU AND WILL ALOW YOU TO LIVE LONGER THEN YOU MAY WANT TOO.
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10-11-2007 @7:24AM stgermainpj said... Organic does taste better usually I also try and buy locally as the time from harvest to table is less. This year I also joined a CSA and have gotten wonderfully fresh veggies. Next year I am joining a CSA for my meat and poultry needs. I am on a fixed income and even though I really try to eat only organic the price difference sometimes mde the choice for me
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10-11-2007 @7:28AM V said... Right, make good choices.
However, I was recently told that even if pesticides aren't used, plants have their own way of protecting themselves, by producing their own "toxic chemicals," to deter bugs. It was explained to me that eating these veggies/fruits could be just as bad? Any comments?
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10-11-2007 @7:44AM sheila said... i don't know about all of you out there, but eventually we are all going to die,it is because of overpopulation that they are finding ways to mass produce fresh veggies and fruits, and meat and dairy, filled with chemicals, which may or may not be a threat to us, its up to the indiviual to judge that, if people were let alone to live the way they want and die the same way, we wouldnt have a population problem, live free, dont hurt others and die content, no filling doctors and insurance companies wallets..
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10-11-2007 @8:08AM William Crabill said... Many so-called "Organic" foods are a joke! Having lived in farming areas of the Rio Grande & Shennandoah River Valleys all my life I've naturally observed that all crops are irrigated with water. The source of this water is typically pumped from the river or it's tributaries. These rivers are loaded with fertilizers & pesticides that have drained from fields upstream of these so-called "Organic" farms! Do you "Organic" minded folks really think that these crops don't asorb these chemical agents from the water they are irrigated with, Yeah, Right!!
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10-11-2007 @8:16AM Scott Webb said... People who don't garden don't appreciate that these chemicals get into the soil and into the plant itself. You then eat these chemicals which get into the liver and cause gall bladder sensitivity and constipation. Dr. W. can eat it, but you shouldn't. It's not just a wee bit of chemicals either. Read "Inside Poop" from Amazon to see what happens in your gut.
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10-11-2007 @8:17AM Demian said... The same fabricated ABC report which falsely claimed that organic food increased the risk of E. coli infection also played down the risk of pesticide residues, claiming (with data that did not exist) that pesticide levels were equal in both organic and non-organic produce. [47]
A New York Times investigation discovered that the two researchers who were commissioned to do the testing - Dr. Michael Doyle, a scientist with the University of Georgia, and Dr. Lester Crawford, director of Georgetown University's Center for Food and Nutrition Policy - never tested produce for pesticide residues for ABC. "All I agreed to do was test for indications of pathogens," Dr. Doyle said. "I didn't do tests for pesticides."
However, Dr. Crawford said that while he did not test produce for pesticides, he did test chicken - and found residues on the samples of conventional poultry but not on samples of organic poultry. Those findings were not mentioned in the ABC report.
Organic produce has been consistently proven to have a lower incidence and level of pesticide residues than non-organic produce, [13, 14, 15, 16] and that these result largely from environmental pollution from intensive agriculture. [17, 18]
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10-11-2007 @8:18AM Diane said... THE TRUTH is that organic is BEST! Many foods are grown using GMOs. (genetically altered) The seeds are developed spliced with other genes. That's why most of the fruits and veggies in the conventional supermarket all look so perfect now. If you have allergies, you're screwed, GMO foods don't require labels, as of now. The cancer rate is always much higher in people who live near farms that use pesticides. Since I'm not a conventional farmer and I don't work for an evil corporation like Monsanto (yeah, that's who's involved in your conventional food), I have nothing to gain by this comment. I HAVE ALWAYS HAD A CHRONIC ILLNESS and SWITCHING TO ORGANIC FOODS has SAVED MY LIFE. (also, the liver doesn't have work so hard to eliminate chemicals)
Growing organics doesn't harm the earth air and water. Support keeping real foods on the market and buy organic.
If you eat meat, conventionally raised cows can be fed dead, diseased cows. The EPA and FDA are not the great organizations that people think they are. They also allowed hydrogenated oils to be put in just about every food we eat, knowing, for many, many years that it has been hurting our health and our children's health. We have to research and find things out for ourselves.
When I gave my grandson's friends organic cheese for the first time, they were afraid to eat it because it wasn't orange! I could go on, but look into things for yourselves. Thank God for organic farmers and I'm glad it pays better. I hope everyone gets into it.
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10-11-2007 @8:26AM D. Gover said... Numerous studies are showing that organic food has higher levels of antioxidants than food grown with synthetic fertilisers and pesticides. A recently publish review of these scientific studies by Dr Charles Benbrook, Ph.D. reveals that on average, the organic crops contained about one-third higher antioxidant and/or phenolic content than comparable conventional produce. Several studies found levels of specific vitamins, flavonoids or antioxidants in organic foods to be two or three times the level found in matched samples of conventional foods.
These compounds, known collectively as phyto-nutrients have been shown to have major roles in preventing and reversing degenerative diseases such as heart disease. They are especially important for preventing and reducing inflammatory and autoimmune disease diseases such as asthma and arthritis. Most significantly they are shown to have anti cancer and other protective properties for our health and well being.
Many of these antioxidants are poly-phenols, flavonoids and other volatile compounds. They are the compounds that are responsible for most of the flavours in the foods we eat. The greater the amount of these protective compounds, the greater the flavor.
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