"Researchers Find That Organic Food Offers Few Extra Health Benefits Other Than Moral Superiority," reads the blaring headline from Jezebel.
"Organic food hardly healthier, study suggests," was CBS's take.
More pointedly, according to The Washington Post, "Organic food adds no vitamins for extra cost, research finds."
The reason for all the noise? A new study from Stanford, which seems to point out that organic foods aren't more nutritious and don't confer more health benefits than non-organic foods.
“When we began this project, we thought that there would likely be some findings that would support the superiority of organics over conventional food,” Dena Bravata, MD, MS, senior author of the paper at Stanford’s Center for Health Policy, told The New York Times. “I think we were definitely surprised.”
This is no small issue to modern moms who not only want to keep their kids healthy, but who also want the best value for their grocery dollars. Organic fruits and vegetables can cost anywhere from $.13 to $.36 more per pound than conventional produce, while organic milk retails for about $6 per gallon, compared to ordinary milk at around $3.50.
So what does this all mean? Can it really be true that buying organic food does nothing more than give us a green-colored platform from which to look down on other, non-organic mommies? We decided to dig a bit deeper.
Why Organic Costs More
For starters, "organic" food is not just fancy branding. Food is certified organic by the USDA only if it meets a long list of requirements, like being produced without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers, or--in the case of meat--without routine use of antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic food--from broccoli to beef--costs more because it requires more work and isn't industrialized (read: turned into something more akin to a factory than a farm) as intensively as conventional food. For example, beef cows that aren't raised using growth hormones take longer to mature into an edible size. You need much more organic fertilizer for an acre of plants than you would synthetic fertilizer. All these differences add up to higher prices.
Despite the premium on pesticide-free produce, the organic market has continued to grow during the recession, up 12% in the last year to $12.4 billion compared to 2010, according to the Organic Trade Association. And 78% of families report buying organic foods.
Are there millions of people (including maybe you) being duped into higher prices? (Find out how this woman slashed $600 from her family's monthly grocery bill, and the 14 ways you could save on your groceries.)