Thoughts on organic food?

finbaar

The only evidence for organic food is the increase in smugness experienced by the buyer's.

figrin_dan

I get some of my veg delivered from a local farm. They can't afford to pay for the "organic" testing but still follow the rules.
I get some ugly looking food - mostly covered in mud!
I notice a huge difference in the taste of carrots. Supermarket carrots taste pretty much like cucumber (ie like water) in comparison.
I don't feel any smugger than people who say I'm wasting money.

Jesoire

I get an organic veg box delivered to my porch every couple of weeks. Saves me shopping, supports the local economy as they source local. Kind to bees who get habitat destroyed by pesticide.Tastes better. And no roundup sprayed over it which contains glyphosate which has strong evidence that links to disease.
Also there are studies that found increased nutritional content in organic produce. Well worth a bit extra.

hodgey66

Be interested to see the studies - honestly don't mean to sound sArcastic - but as I said above I could only find either studies that were funded by the organic soil association or those that said there was no difference

Greg Hook

It's not so much the organic for me, but farm fresh where the difference is. Taste some bland supermarket carrots compared to some bought from a Farmer's market. They may not be organic but they taste a hell of a lot better. It's amazing sometimes just how bland supermarket vegetables are.

Jesoire

Ok! I set myself the task of googling within 6 minutes to find a link for organic nutritional superiority as that's how quickly my organic eggs are going to take to boil.
Took less than 2. I beat er... myself.

Clear differences between organic and non-organic food, study finds

Jesoire

I like Dr Mercola.
He raises the issue of GMO lobbying which lobbies against organic for obvious reasons. But he remains fairly balanced on it all.

This article covers some of the conflicting ideas.

Are Organic Foods Healthier Than Conventional Foods?

IronGiant

From your first link:

Tom Sanders, a professor of nutrition at King's College London, said the research did show some differences. "But the question is are they within natural variation? And are they nutritionally relevant? I am not convinced." He said Leifert's work had caused controversy in the past. "Leifert has had a lot of aggro with a lot of people. He is oversexing [this report] a bit." Sanders added the research showed organic cereals have less protein than conventional crops.

From your second "balanced" link:

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Pardon my scepticism

figrin_dan

FWIU Anything on the internet can be proved and disproved many times over depending on where you look and how much time you want to spend. In the end it comes down to which strangers you most trust. Chances of one changing their mind from their gut instinct are pretty low.

finbaar

Did you just use Google?  If so it proves nothing. Try Google Scholar and then report back.