10 BENEFITS OF CONSUMING ORGANIC FOOD
Posted by Nisar Khan on
The demand for organic food is increasing quite drastically as more people are getting aware of them, as it's safe and healthy but what does exactly "organic food" mean?. Organic food is the product of the farming system which does not use any synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. No artificial colors or flavors are being used. Furthermore, when we talk about organic food so dairy products and meats also lie in this category so even no antibiotics or growth hormones should be used on livestock. Rather than the usage of any chemical fertilizer, natural methods are being used by the farmers such as compose or manure. when organic food is being sold in big stores and markets they are certified as organic products. United State Department Of Agriculture (USDA) is responsible to check the standard of food before they are certified, the food should fulfill certain requirements of the USDA. For organic food, USDA needs to verify that no chemical or synthetic fertilizer, artificial colors, preservatives, and no genetically modified organisms are being used. However, organic livestock, verify that animal health and welfare are their priority and they do not use any antibiotics or growth hormones, only natural methods are being used, for example, rotational grazing, a healthy diet, and clean living condition. If the requirements are fulfilled they get the organic seal from the USDA, as shown in the picture:
BACKGROUND OF ORGANIC FOOD:
The basic principle of organic food is to keep one land productive for many generations. However, the origin of organic food goes back to WWII. The industrial revolution that happen before the war and the shortage of food during the war, the people are replacing manual labor with machinery, and synthetic fertilizers were being produced at affordable rates, the farmers saw this as a threat to the health and the environment. they reject this idea and start working on more innovative methods in the spect for the human, animal, and environmental effects. this is when organic farming was introduced.
Let's list down some benefits so we can understand more clearly organic food:
1. ANTIBIOTICS RESISTANCE:
Some people are very sensitive and they can easily catch any disease, and for that, they take precautions to keep themselves safe ad healthy, sometimes they get vaccines or take antibiotics when any new virus or bacteria is spread. However, the conventionally grown food or what we can also call non-organic food, especially livestock. They are given growth hormones or antibiotics so they are so-called healthy. This weakens the immunity system in humans as they are overdosing the antibiotics, the immune system is so altered that they are unable to fight any disease. Whereas, the organic livestock are healthy as the natural methods are being used on them such as rotational grazing.
2. HEARTH HEALTH:
We know that a clean living condition, rotational grazing, and a good diet are provided to organic livestock, initially, this increases their grazing time which increases the amount of Conjugated linoleic acid (GLA), which is a healthy heart fatty- acid which incease the cardiovascular protections, this decrease the chances of having heart attack and strokes.
whereas if we talk about organic crops, they contain higher levels of flavonoids, which again protect our body from cardiovascular diseases. One example of this is organically grown tomatoes which have a twice as high level of flavonoids as compared conventionally grown food.
3. REDUCE CANCER RISK:
To prevent our bodies from certain dangerous diseases, such as cancer people should exercise daily, and quit smoking but along with this, a study has found that organic food can also help us to reduce the risk as compared to conventionally grown food.
Organic products have fewer pesticide residues than conventional food., that's because farmers have to follow strict rules and one of them is the prohibition of the use of synthetic or chemical fertilizers. These pests can harm our bodies and affect our health.
Furthermore, on close studies, it is found that three different cancer are strongly associated with the consumption of organic food.
- One of them is postmenopausal breast cancer, women who ate organic food are 34% less likely to develop this cancer.
- The second is Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, cancer that starts in white blood cells. Its risk is 86% being reduced when one is on an organic food diet.
- The third is all lymphomas, lymphomas are a type of blood cancer that has different types and its risk is reduced to 76% on an organic diet.
4. ANTIOXIDANT CONTENT
Antioxidants are the molecules that fight the free radicals in our body, radicals are the harmful compound that can harm our body when they are in higher concentrations and they can cause some serious illnesses such as stroke, diabetes, cancer, etc. Our body has its antioxidant which keeps radicals in check but there is some food in which antioxidant is present, such as fruits and vegetables.
Many studies have found that antioxidant from organic food affects our all overall health, it can be since no synthetic fertilizer are being used so no chemical are interacting with different nutrients and vitamins in the body. The antioxidants present in organically grown fruits or vegetables can prevent us from some serious diseases such as vision problems, premature aging and even cancer.
5. PREVENT WATER POLLUTION
We all are very aware of the water pollution which is increasing day by day. One of the main issues for this problem is the agriculture areas, in the non-organic farming methods many pesticides and synthetic fertilizers are being used and when they are leached into water bodies it became poisonous, this kills many marine animals and also affects human and animals. However, as we know that no synthetic fertilizers are being used in organic framing instead natural methods applications such as the usage of manure and compost.
6. RESTORE BIODIVERSITY
In conventional farming, biodiversity is highly disturbed as many important measures are being not taken care of but when we talk about organic crops or livestock we can see that biodiversity is one of the important factors for them. As no fertilizers are being used this allows many plants and insects to reproduce themselves. When there are more plants and more grazing grounds more wildlife can have shelter.
An additional advantage to restoring biodiversity is they can keep the pests under control and they can facilitate pollination to other places.
7. PROMOTE STRONGER IMMUNE SYSTEM
The only motive of industrial or agricultural farming is to increase their production output, like giving antibiotics or growth hormones to the livestock or using a genetic modification for producing more bigger fruits or vegetables. When humans consume them it surely affects their immune system as the diet they are getting is not authentic. Whereas, eating organic foods boasts up our immunity, as organic food is not altered by any means. They have higher and better quality moreover they have more mineral and vitamin content which strengthens the human immunity system.
8. PROTECT SOIL
One of the major problems the world is facing is the soil getting arid, non - organic farming is playing a huge part in it. More than 1/3 of the world's soil has already been degraded due to the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. These chemicals make the land so barren and dry that the farming on it is the one big farming. On the other hand, organic farming's initial plan is to keep the land cultivated for many generations, they do that by using natural methods, such as rotational cropping, and use natural fertilizers like manure and compose.
9. IT IS GMO-FREE
When we buy organic food, we know it is GMO-free as it is prohibited in organic farming to use any chemical to increase its yield, we can increase also increase the yield by better techniques and safer methods than organic breeding, with this breading we can create disease resistant and drought resistant crops. Most significantly we can do this by balancing biodiversity.
It is often being claimed that GMOs make crops pest resistant and it increases the yield etc however the use of GMOs not only makes the soil barren but it also highly affects the ecosystem. It altered the DNA in such a way that it causes damage to the body, GMOs food is causing slowed brain growth, internal organ damage, and the thickening of the digestive tract. thus, it is more beneficial for us to use organic products as they are GMOs free.
10. IT BENEFITS CLIMATE CHANGE
The change in the climate and the global warming is increasing day by day which affects the farming sectors, as more greenhouse is emit, the soil gets barren and water gets poisonous due to fertilizers.
Organic farming plays a positive part as no synthetic fertilizer or pesticides are being used, they are the primary source of greenhouse gases. organic matter is being used instead and they contain essential chemicals such s nitrogen, phosphorus, and other organic nutrients matter this reduces the need for fertilizer which in turn minimizes the greenhouse gas imitation.
It promotes a healthy soil which helps in carbon sequestration, a process that stores carbon- dioxide in the soil in order to reduce global warming.
Due to this farming, the soil holding water capacity also increases that's why they give better than conventional farming. Furthermore, when the underground water table gets high it protects against soil erosion and flooding.
11. ANIMAL WELFARE
In organic livestock, the welfare of the animals is the priority of the farmers. Organic farming is found to be the most animal-friendly approach. Moreover, they are subject to humane treatment. They are not given any antibiotics or any growth hormones only natural methods are being used, for example, rotational grazing, a healthy diet, and clean living condition. Additionally, when they are being taken care of their organic milk or meat provided to us are lot healthy and tastier than the conventional livestock that is ill-treated. Whereas conventional livestock is highly ill-treated, they are not properly taken care of, farmers use growth hormones or vaccines on them. They live in an unhygienic place and therefore their meat and milk are not rich in nutrients as compared to organic livestock.
CONCLUSION
The bottom line about organic food is that it is accepted all around the world to be the safest choice due to its friendly farming methods which are giving us better health and a good lifestyle. It gives us a number of advantages such as balancing biodiversity, and animal welfare, preventing soil erosion, and lots of health benefits.
The quote "YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT" is quite literal, because diets play a special part not only in physical health but mental health as well. Its environmental benefits along with the other ones are allowing many plants and animals to survive those who were once endangered. Additionally, the consumption of organic foods has increased drastically in the last 20 years, people have started to buy in order to reduce their exposure to GMO food and to reduce the pest residues, these things can harm our bodies badly. Organic food is fresh and sustainable than conventionally grown food. Studies have found that organic food tastes far better than conventional one is due to the fact that organic is free more than any chemicals such as fertilizers even if no artificial colors nor preservatives are used. The taste it has is completely natural but in conventional food artificial colors and preservatives are used that's why it is not the natural taste but the article one. People should start using organic food rather than conventional one as it is healthy and more beneficial for human health. Organic food is also very fresh as it is grown locally and it does not have to travel far away so when the consumers consume them it is still fresh.
One of the drawbacks of organic is its price, it is quite expensive it is due to the fact that it is labor extensive and time requiring process that is why it has a higher place in the market. However, even with a higher price, many people are still determined to buy organic products to keep themself fit. So, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR??? Orgenuo is the one stop economic shop for all the organic festivities that you have been craving about. Go to our Catalogues and find the best product to maintain your beautiful body and keep your soul at peace. Stay fit and healthy with Orgenou.