Are Organic Foods More Nutritious?

Many of our patients (and some of our colleagues) pay premium prices for “organic” food. Two reasons for this behavior are the perceived absence of pesticides and other chemicals on organic foods and that less greenhouse gases are generated by organic farming. In addition, many people think that organically grown foods have superior nutritional content.

A team from the London School of Hygiene identified 55 studies addressing the nutritional content of organic versus nonorganic foods that they deemed to be methodologically sound. A systematic review of the data showed that, among 11 different types of evaluated nutrient content, only 3 showed small but significant differences between organic and conventional foods. Conventionally produced cr…