The organic food market has been growing in recent years, both in Europe and the United States. Sales of organic food increased to US$45.2 billion last year in the United States, according to the Organic Trade Association’s 2018 survey.
For food to be certified organic by the Department of Agriculture, produce must be grown without the use of most synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, and may not contain genetically modified organisms. Meat must be produced by raising animals fed organic food without the use of hormones or antibiotics. Such items now represent 5.5 per cent of all food sold in retail outlets, according to the organic trade group.
LINK BETWEEN PESTICIDE AND CANCER?
A representative of the Alliance for Food and Farming, a group that seeks to allay public concerns about pesticides, said consumers should not worry about cancer risks from consuming conventionally grown fruits and vegetables.
“Decades of peer-reviewed nutritional studies largely conducted using conventionally grown produce have shown that eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables prevents diseases, like cancer, and leads to a longer life,” its executive director, Teresa Thorne, said in an emailed statement.
For the study, researchers recruited 68,946 volunteers who were 44, on average, when the study began. The vast majority, 78 per cent, were women.
Participants provided detailed information about how frequently they consumed 16 different types of organic foods. The researchers asked about a wide range of foods, including fruits, vegetables, dairy and soy products, meat, fish and eggs, as well as grains and legumes, bread and cereals, flour, oils and condiments, wine, coffee and teas, biscuits and chocolate and sugar, and even dietary supplements. Study volunteers provided three 24-hour records of their intake, including portion sizes, over a two-week period.
The information was far more detailed than that provided by participants in the British Million Women study, who responded to only a single question about how often they ate organic.
OTHER HEALTHY BEHAVIOURS MAY HAVE HELPED
Participants in the French study also provided information about their general health status, their occupation, education, income and other details, like whether they smoked. Since people who eat organic food tend to be health-conscious and may benefit from other healthful behaviours, and also tend to have higher incomes and more years of education than those who don’t eat organic, the researchers made adjustments to account for differences in these characteristics, as well as such factors as physical activity, smoking, use of alcohol, a family history of cancer and weight.
Even after these adjustments, the most frequent consumers of organic food had 76 per cent fewer lymphomas, with 86 per cent fewer non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, and a 34 per cent reduction in breast cancers that develop after menopause.
The reductions in lymphomas may not be all that surprising. Epidemiological studies have consistently found a higher incidence of some lymphomas among people like farmers and farmworkers who are exposed to certain pesticides through their work.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified three pesticides commonly used in farming – glyphosate, malathion and diazinon – as probable human carcinogens, and linked all three to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
One reason an organic diet may reduce breast cancer risk is because many pesticides are endocrine disrupters that mimic oestrogen function, and hormones play a causal role in breast cancer.
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