Scientists Discovered What Happens When You Switch to Organic

[00:00:00]The first question was submitted by David. David asks, "Rhonda, it's time to really look at whether organic produce is really healthier than conventional, especially with regard to pesticides."

[00:00:13]This is a question that I was happy to do a deep dive on because I had been wondering the same thing about pesticide exposure in organic, particularly because a lot of organic produce is actually grown in close proximity to conventionally grown produce, and so I'd always wondered if the pesticides were sort of making their way to the organic produce because of just the proximity issue itself. So, let's actually dig into data.

[00:00:37]Um it was I was surprised to find that there actually was some good data here, and it is reassuring, uh which is the bottom line. But before we get into the pesticides, let's talk about nutritional differences.

[00:00:47]There was a comprehensive study, probably the most comprehensive study that was done comparing the nutritional value of organic produce versus the conventional produce. This was about 656 different analyses that were done looking at the the different nutritional value of these foods, and concluded really there's not any really big difference between them, and it might just actually even depend on the specific type of produce that you're looking at and the specific nutrient that you're looking at.

[00:01:17]And it's not very that surprising to me, um to be honest, because the soil where the foods are grown, the type of crop, water that's used, fertilizer, manure, all that stuff, like how it's picked, this can all affect the nutrient levels.

[00:01:29]And so, for example, an organic tomato from one farm may be very different from an organic tomato from another farm. Um so, it's not even just comparing conventional to organic. It's just, you know, just a matter of where the produce is grown and the soil and all that makes a big difference. Typically, they did have higher levels of some micronutrients, including vitamin C, magnesium, and potassium.

[00:01:50]Um so, uh they're also generally lower in other sorts of heavy metals, um also in nitrites as well.

[00:01:57]But, conventional foods can be higher in other things that are also beneficial like the carotenoids. So, lycopene, beta-carotene is higher in conventionally grown some conventionally grown produce and also manganese. That's a very important trace element.

[00:02:12]So, again, I think it comes down to the food type that we're talking about. Um, it's not just a generalized blanket statement that you can compare conventional to organic.

[00:02:23]Polyphenols are also also different sometimes. Polyphenols as you guys know, these are compounds that plants often make to defend themselves from insects or fungus or things like that.

[00:02:35]And so, um, there's a lot of mixed data here. You would imagine that if you're spraying a bunch of pesticides on produce, then you're going to have fewer insects that are around and therefore you're going to have less of a polyphenol response because the poly- polyphenols are really produced when insects come and like bite the plant for example. And that is nece- that is actually what you see. You do see often times that many [clears throat] organic crops do have that natural type of stress. They're being exposed to the fungus and to the insects and so they do have higher levels of polyphenols in many cases.

[00:03:10]So, that's another thing to consider.

[00:03:13]So, um, let's now shift gears and talk about pesticide exposure. I know that's what everyone's interested in. That's what I'm interested in as well.

[00:03:20]And I do think that I've heard some uh, chatter on X and the blogosphere and you know, influencers cer- certain influencers saying that organic produce is is BS and that you're basically getting as much pesticides that you get from conventional exposure and actually I would say that is absolutely not true.

[00:03:42]And I would say the most clear and consistent finding looking at the scientific literature is that when you switch organic food, when you switch from conventionally grown produce to organic, you reduce pesticide exposure.

[00:03:58]And this is empirical evidence. This is measuring the metabolites of pesticides. So, total urinary pesticide residues can be about 91% lower.

[00:04:09]Glyphosate can be 71% lower. And then another type of metabolite, AMPA, which is the primary glyphosate metabolite, is about 77% lower within days from switching from conventionally grown produce, fruits and vegetables, to organically grown fruits and vegetables.

[00:04:29]And similar reductions have been observed across multiple other pesticide studies. So, this is just a very I would say strong evidence-based statement, where we're actually measuring the pesticide's metabolite in urine. And we can say for sure that if you switch to organic, that pesticide metabolite concentration goes down significantly.

[00:04:55]Um and that's very reassuring.

[00:04:58]There was one of these studies that was included in the in this review found that when children switched to an organic diet for 40 days, not only did they have lower levels of these pesticide metabolites, they also had lower levels of oxidative stress, including DNA damage. They had lower lipid peroxidation. So, DNA damage would be something that if you're having high levels exposure to high levels of pesticides, it's damaging DNA. That can potentially lead to mutations that lead to cancer. It's one of the links by which pesticide exposure has been linked to cancer, particularly if you're talking about environmental exposure, right? These are people that are working with pesticides every day. They're being exposed to a very, very high level of pesticides compared to just someone eating conventionally grown produce.

[00:05:46]Um and also lipid peroxidation is is is is the the the lipid membranes around your cells are being damaged by this oxidative stress, and that causes all sorts of problems. It makes cells not function properly. It can cause, if we're talking about endothelial cells, it can cause those endothelial cells that line your vascular system to get stiffer. So, that's obviously not good for your cardiovascular health. So, I think that this is pretty strong evidence that yes, if you switch to organic produce that you are definitely getting lower pesticide exposure, and it's having real world consequences in terms of biomarkers of health, right? DNA damage and lipid peroxidation. Then we can go a step further, and we can look at the the literature showing pesticide exposure and disease risk, and I think that you know, this is obviously observational, but you can also look at urinary metabolites and then disease risk. Again, observational. Most of that data is coming from people that are being exposed to high levels. So, this would be again, like environmentally sorry, occupationally exposed people, people that are working with pesticides.

[00:06:56]So, the evidence is the strongest there in terms of people that are being exposed and having like disease risk.

[00:07:04]Several studies studies can link pesticide exposure to cancer, metabolic, you know, dysfunction, thyroid dysfunction, fertility dysfunction, neurodevelopment, Parkinson's disease, like on and on.

[00:07:15]So, it is I think there is every reason to want to decrease pesticide exposure because there has been a pretty large body of evidence linking pesticides to a variety of diseases. Of course, the biggest limitation there is observational. They're showing showing associations. You can't really ever prove causation.

[00:07:34]I think at the the the the take home here is if you if you're worried if you're worried about pesticides and you can afford organic produce, definitely the way to go. Um, I realize that it is expensive and and there are a lot of people and a lot of families that are on budgets and in that situation, I think it's really good to go and look at the dirty dozen and the 15 clean list because there are certain fruits and vegetables that are more more prone to really soaking up those pesticides and those would be the dirty dozen that you'd really try to avoid.

[00:08:10]Um, and then try to get those 15 clean list, right? Those are the ones that are really going to be um, the cleanest. And that really can help you prioritize which fruits and vegetables matter the most.

[00:08:22]But I do also just want to mention at the end of the day when you look at the large body of the scientific literature, you will see that health benefits of eating fruits and vegetables are outweigh any other potential risk because, you know, the literature doesn't just look at organic versus conventionally grown when they're looking at all these, you know, benefits of eating fruits and vegetables. It's just eating fruits and vegetables. The majority of people actually do not eat organic. So we do know at the end of the day that just eating fruits and vegetables outweigh, you know, the potential negative effects of having pesticides. However, that said, I do think it's best if you can try and get those, you know, 15 clean or avoid those dirty those dirty dozen um, fruits and vegetables because it's not that they're they do have an effect.