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Appendix 3: Scientific Research on Organic Growing Practices and Nutrition Professor Tony Nader, M.D., Ph.D. The past one hundred years have witnessed many changes in important aspects of food science and technology. The understanding of nutrition has also undergone various stages of evolution. Whereas food used to be considered as just a supply of calories and building blocks of the body, research has now shown the importance of vitamins, minerals, trace elements, and a variety of metabolites for health, prevention of disease, and the proper development of the brain and behavior. The value of food has therefore evolved from being a means for basic survival to a vital element in the fields of health, education, economy, and even national and international peace and well-being. The latest scientific research (see meta-analysis references below) has demonstrated that the methods of food production have a profound effect on the constituents and quality of food. Conventional agricultural approaches using pesticides and fertilizers have been shown to deprive soil and resultant food of some of its essential ingredients including minerals, trace elements, carbon chains of metabolites, etc. These conventional approaches also create an imbalance in the food, due to the addition of too many of certain chemicals and too little of others. Such deficiencies and imbalances are not found in organically grown food. About Nutrients As an example, the following lists present the harmful effects caused by the lack of certain trace elements in the diet:
Some additional examples of the serious disadvantages of conventional agriculture versus the vital advantages of organic agriculture include:
4) Biocrystallization techniques (as demonstrated by research at the Agricultural University of Copenhagen) show that organically grown foods have more orderly crystallization patterns than conventionally grown foods. In other words, they have less entropy and more balance. 5) Conventionally grown vegetables contain significantly more nitrate than organically grown food (documented by the Federal Institute for Consumer Protection of Germany). These nitrates are transformed into nitrites in the human digestive tract. Nitrites combine with amines to form nitrosamines. Nitrosamines cause cancer. 6) Pesticides used in conventional agriculture have a similar molecular structure to oestrogen and have a hormonal influence in the physiology. They can create imbalances in the structures and functions of the tissues of the body, including the brain, and they can cause tumors. 7) The increase in the number of cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and testicular tumors (all serious cancer diseases) may be at least partly a result of increased exposure to agricultural chemicals (as reported in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health). 8) Pesticides used in conventional agriculture have been linked to higher brain cancer, leukemia, learning disabilities, and other disorders, according to the American Public Health Association. The Arnerican Public Health Association reports that these chemicals pose a particularly great risk to children because a child's developing nervous system and body are more sensitive to these elements. An estimated one million American children living on or near farms are 'awash in pesticides' from contamination of the air, drinking water, house dust, and even working clothing worn in the fields by their parents. 9) Organically produced milk contains more CLA (conjugated linoleic acids) than conventional milk. CLA have cancer-inhibiting qualities and are able to prevent arteriosclerosis. 10) In a comparison between nutritional levels in conventional food and organic food, researchers have found that organic fruit was considerably higher in phenols. Plants naturally synthesize phenols for defence against pests and diseases. Possibly, the unsprayed organic plants were stimulated to make higher levels of these critical molecules in response to pest attack. These phenolic compounds that protect the plant also have been shown to be disease protectants in humans. 11) Conventional food production overloads the soil and the ground water with artificial fertilizer (mainly nitrates) as well as with pesticides and herbicides. These elements in the drinking water also cause cancer. 12) Methane (CH4) is one of the most important gases responsible for the global greenhouse effect and fifteen per cent (15%) of the overall emitted methane is caused by conventional agriculture. 13) It has also been demonstrated that when fruit is picked early, before it is ripe on the tree, it lacks the full level of nutrients, which develop only when fruit ripens naturally and completely on the tree. Therefore, fruit and vegetables picked early, to ripen during shipment, do not deliver the full value of nutrition, as compared to the produce picked fresh and delivered fresh to the market. For this reason, Maharishi Vedic Organic Products will be picked and delivered to market within one or two days allowing them to be picked only with fully developed nutrients. 14) Finally, organically grown foods disallow the use of genetic modification. The onslaught of genetic alteration of food is an area that presents the greatest danger to the purity of our food. Some of the dangers include potential allergenicity and toxicity to humans and other species, development of antibiotic resistant organisms, horizontal gene transfer, potential genetic drift, potential disruption of soil microbiology and biochemistry, development of nutrient imbalance, increased pesticide use, damage to beneficial organisms, creation of ‘superweeds’ and ‘superpests,’ evolution of virulent new plant and soil pathogens, spread of invasive new species, loss of biodiversity, development of malignant cancers (as from insulin-like growth factor increase associated with use of rBGH), and other environmental, ethical, and economical considerations both short and long term. Doctors are starting to recommend organic food to everyone, and particularly to their patients. For total body and brain development, proper digestion and metabolism are essential. Food constituents play a crucial role in this regard. Modern scientific findings clearly show the superiority of organically grown foods over foods grown in a conventional way. With a poorly or less well-developed brain and physiology due to inappropriate nutrition, the individual does not have access to his full potential. This is the basis of inadequacy in education, ill health, crime, and all types of difficulties that plague national and international life. As a result, life continues to be lived with struggle, strain, and problems in all fields. Every individual is truly Cosmic and can live perfection in life. Organically grown food facilitates the growth of the brain and body allowing the fully balanced use of all the organs of the senses and action, and the ability for deep thinking. With proper diet and metabolism supported by Maharishi Vedic Organic food, the cosmic reality of the individual can be uncovered and life can be lived in health, happiness, and continuing growth and evolution. Editors note: For a complete meta-analysis of the effect of organic agriculture on nutrient content, please refer to the following comprehensive study that cites all the references in recent years. Virginia Worthington, "Effect of Agricultural Methods on Nutritional Quality: A Comparison of Organic with Conventional Crops." Alternative Therapies, Vol.4, 1998, pp. 58-69.
Dr. Worthington concludes in her article: We have seen now from this analysis that organic crops have higher levels of nutrients most of the time. Still, it is easy to dismiss all of this as insignificant, since the absolute quantities of nutrients are small. For example, if there is 47 percent more vitamin C, for most foods that amounts to no more than a few milligrams. Are these small differences of any consequence? A few years ago it would have been easy to brush them aside, but it is now known that there are many nutrient interactions and that small differences do matter. For example, an increase in vitamin C increases the effect of vitamin E, folic acid, and iron. The increase in vitamin E then increases the effect of selenium and vitamin A. Vitamin A further increases the effect of iron, and so on. Because of these interactions, small increases (or equally decreases of toxic substances) of the many nutrients in a food can have a much bigger effect than would be expected from looking at the individual nutrient levels. Nutritionally speaking, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. And small differences in nutrient levels can matter a lot." Please see also the following research Web sites (4/142001) for more information on organic agriculture and organic nutrition: Maharishi Vedic Organic Agriculture Alternative Farming Systems Information Center, National Agricultural Library Sustainable Agriculture Network and Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Organic Research Organization Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas Biodynamics Farming and Gardening Association, Inc. Agriculture Network Information Center Organic Farming Research Foundation Functional Foods Research Ecological Agricultural Projects Acres USA Rodale Organic Gardening
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