Yvonne Brechbuhler received a surprise when she broke open her lettuce:
A health-conscious Brooklyn mom says she nearly jumped out of her skin when she found a little green frog napping between the leaves of a head of organic lettuce she brought home.
She said first the frog survived a journey from South Florida to the Park Slope Food Coop, then another three days in her refrigerator. Finally it narrowly escaped being part of a pesticide-free salad she was making last week. [Source: NY Daily News]
Recent studies have found organicly grown foods often have health benefits, although "Results seem to vary widely in the size of any organic benefit — or whether there is a benefit at all." . If you buy organic foods, what are the reasons that you believe they are healthier than non-organic foods? If you choose not to buy organics, why not? (Besides the apparent potential for frogs in your salad!)
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January 30th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
I currently do not buy organic foods, mostly because of the difference in price, but also because as your post states, the evidence for benefits is varied. Even though the prices have dropped in the past few years as organic farming became more popular, I don’t see myself buying organic until they are just as affordable as non-organic. In the meantime, I’ll be taking my vitamins (which ends up being cheaper) to offset the extra antioxidants and nutrients I won’t be getting from organic food.
February 11th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I buy my produce from a local farm market where I am told the origin of all the fruits and veggies. I do this because I want to support our local farmers and minimize the distance food travels from the field to my plate. The fact that the farm grows their goodies in a field behind the market, and does so organically, is just a bonus. However, when I’m in the grocery store I just can’t bear to pay the extra cost to go 100% organic. I’ve also heard that the benefit of organic is higher for some products over others, and that one can reap most of the benefits by just going organic on the biggest pesticide offenders. Is this true?