The Science of Organics

While the health effects of organic food make complete sense to many people, for others these will have to be substantiated with straight science. Ultimately, it’s going to take hard scientific data to convince more consumers of “conventionally grown” food—not to mention the food policy powers-that-be—that organic is actually better.

Enter The Organic Center, and their mission to generate credible scientific information and communicate the verifiable benefits of organic farming and products to society.

“A lot of the existing organizations set up to deal with issues and challenges facing the community as a whole are insufficiently staffed, empowered and funded to deal with the science side of the benefits of organic food and farming,” Dr. Charles Benbrook, chief scientist with The Organic Center, told Organic Connections. “One organization is focused on regulatory issues, policy and trade as they affect the organic community; another is focused on farm research and helping organic farmers overcome problems; yet another is focused on the approval of inputs for use by organic farmers or in organic food processing.* None of them have as a principal mission conducting and integrating research on the consumer health and environmental benefits of organic food and farming. That’s where we come in.”

Part of The Organic Center’s mission is to convert agriculture to organic methods—no mean feat. But the organization is taking a from-the-bottom-up approach. “The most direct way is convincing consumers, restaurant owners and food companies that offering for sale, buying and consuming organic food is in the best interests of human health and the environment,” Benbrook said. “That is, after all, the basic way that any industry grows in this country. If the demand is out there, the supply will grow.”

One essential need that The Organic Center is fulfilling is that of providing peer-reviewed scientific data. Peer review is the process of subjecting a scientist’s work, research or ideas to the scrutiny of others who are experts in the same field for validation. In fact, this is the only way to have scientific work become labeled as valid and promoted as such.

“The reason there is such a need for peer-reviewed data is that there is a lot of misinformation out there,” Benbrook explained. “This is due to the fact that many of the individuals and companies that feel like they are part of the conventional food system are understandably a bit nervous and a bit edgy about a newfound scrutiny from people asking sharper questions about the ways in which our food is produced, packaged, processed and marketed—and how these impact our health.

“There are good reasons for these questions. There are very worrisome trends in public health. We have the rapid acceleration in obesity and diabetes. We have a growing frequency of birth defects and developmental problems in infants. There is an increasing share of American couples wanting to have children but experiencing trouble conceiving and carrying a pregnancy to term, and needing to seek out interventions from their doctors to have a healthy child. These unmistakable indicators of deteriorating public health are occurring despite the advances of medical science and the fact that we spend more on healthcare in this country than anywhere else in the world. I think that science is steadily sharpening its focus on diet and food as important if not primary contributors to many of these adverse trends in the health of the American public.”

The Organic Center is accomplishing peer-reviewed studies by partnering with university scientists who have experience and interest in working in these areas. This research is either encouraged by or, where possible, funded by The Organic Center.

Benbrook and his team have also discovered that there is a great amount of new science and data collection being conducted by the government that is not being adequately analyzed with regard to public health and the environment. Hence, another large part of the work of The Organic Center is focused on tracking, digesting and integrating research and analytical activity occurring independently of the Center and paid for elsewhere, but which produces data and insights that are directly relevant to the mission of the Center.

There are many valuable scientific reports available on The Organic Center’s website on such topics as organic pesticide options, the superior taste and nutrition that organic fruits and vegetables can provide, the impact of organic farming on energy use, and many more. There are also numerous reports on food safety, covering such topics as the effect of pesticides on pregnant women, the likely actual causes of E. coli, safety questions about food irradiation, and scientific concerns on animal cloning.

Of course, the superior nutrition of organic food can be a prime benefit, and one that The Organic Center strives to disseminate. “We think—and the science shows—that organically produced fruits and vegetables can be more nutrient dense,” said Benbrook. “We also understand that there is no guarantee of heightened nutrient density in the National Organic Program rules; the rules do not strive to assure that organic food is more nutrient dense than conventional food. But it so happens that more often than not that is the case, and we think that’s an important benefit that consumers ought to know about.”

The Organic Center continues with their mission to complete the picture of organic benefit by filling in the science where it is so vitally needed.

To find out more about The Organic Center, to access their many reports or to find out how you can help, visit their website at www.organic-center.org.

*inputs: products that facilitate the growing of crops, such as fertilizers, soil conditioners and plant protection products, as well as those used in food processing.