FOLLOW UP ARTICLE FROM THE OEFFA NEWS

This is one one the letters to the editor and the editorial from the Spring 2000 issue of the OEFFA News. They discuss the validity of the article entitled Scientists Prove Superior Nutritive Value of Organic Foods which appeared in the Winter 2000 issue, and supply references for those interested in more reliable information.

Letters to the Editor
Even better than the Rutgers Article

When I opened the latest newsletter, I was immediately drawn to the article about the Rutgers study of commercial produce vs. organic. I had to make a speech about the benefits of organic ag. the next day, so I jumped online to print a copy of the full study. What I found was that the numbers printed in the newsletter corresponded to a study that is commonly known as the Firman-Bear report. Yes, it was a study done at Rutgers about mineral contents of veggies. No, it was not a comparison of commercial vs. organic. Rather, it compared veggies from different parts of the country and their mineral content. It found that veggies grown in mineral rich soils had higher mineral contents. Those grown in the rich soils of Ohio were particularly high. I found my info online by going to the Organic Trade Association's site (OTA.com). They had a search engine that would search UNC ag library (or something like that...). You search Metalink. Search on keywords "Firman Bear." [Search Bear not Baer.] This turned up a conversation about the report with several people weighing in, including a professor from Rutgers. The following address will get you directly to this professor, but I recommend reading the full conversation found by searching for Firman-Bear. Some of the stuff under these listing was even better than the Rutgers article. Especially some of the stuff they are doing in the EU to reassess the criteria for judging produce. Here's the link. Please let the OEFFA readership know about this.

Thanks, Kirsten Clemente Thanks, Michael Clemente

Thank you to all of you who called or wrote in with information regarding the article titled "Scientists prove Superior Nutritive Value of Organic Foods" in the last issue. I appreciate the time you took to let us know what you found. I have reprinted one of the letters (above) that I felt would be particularly helpful to OEFFA members interested in this topic.

It is always my hope that a keen ear bent to the wisdom of others will keep me from making too many painful blunders. Unfortunately this was not one of those times, but just as misinformation of all kinds of issues has the potential to open up positive discussions, this has motivated me, and other OEFFA members, to do some research of our own. I wanted to share some of what was found.

The "superior value" article has apparently been in circulation for years, but has seen a recent resurgence on the web. It has been billed by those familiar with it as strictly a misquote of the Firman-Baer report since the impressive numbers it quotes were pulled from this report, but credit needs to be given to a study done by Doctor's Data Inc. as well. (Journal of Applied Nutrition, vol. 45, no 1, 1993.)

The Doctor's Data Inc. study was the one in which organic and commercial products were purchased in stores and analyze for elemental concentrations. Researchers purchased apples,pears, potatoes, corn, whole wheat flour, wheat berries, and baby foods in the Chicago area and, over a two year period, analyzed them at Doctor's Data Laboratories. Results were expressed as a comparison of the percentage of organic foods having more or less of each element than their commercial counterpart rather than as exact elemental concentrations. The Doctor's Data researchers concluded that "in this study the average elemental concentration in organic foods on a fresh weight basis was found to be about twice that of commercial foods."

Analyzing food on a fresh weight basis is one thing that sets this study apart from many previous studies that have not reported dramatic differences between organic and commercial foods. Tina Finesilver, B.Sc., R.D., who has prepared a review and analysis of research that has addressed the food quality of organically versus conventionally grown foods, recommends fresh weight analysis for more accurate results (link). The other thing that sets the Doctor's Data study apart is the inclusion of post harvest handling.

While this study did have limitations, and researchers suggest that further study be done, it does offer a unique look at elemental concentrations from the consumer's point of view. Both the Firman-Bear report and the Doctor's Data Inc. study have been posted on OEFFA's website at www.greenlink.org/oeffa and are well worth taking a look at.

When I did a Metalink search the work of one University of Florida graduate caught my eye. Inspired by the well circulated "superior value" article, Steve Diver did his MS thesis on the carotene content of carrots grown in adjacent organically maintained and standard culture maintained soils and found significantly higher levels of carotene in carrot from the the organic area. (link). He considers this a preliminary study and plans to continue this work.

Even more interesting than his thesis, though, was his simply written message debunking the "superior value" article. (link) This message has a great list of suggested further readings for those interested in how soil quality affects food nutrition. One of these that I have run across several times is by Sharon B. Hornick called "Factors Affecting the Nutritional Quality of Crops" (Am. J. Alt. Agric. Vol. 7, No.1-2. 1992). It discusses environmental conditions and cultural practices likely to affect food quality. Diver also discusses some alternative methods and criteria being used to look at the value of foods. These include chromatography,paramagnetism, and food vitality.

The Soil Association in England, an organization that campaigns for organic farming, and has recently reported interesting research on secondary metabolites in organic foods, uses a broad definition of food quality. "They adopted standards developed at the University of Kassel and the Elm Farm Research Centre in Great Britain, two European research institutes actively conducting organic farming systems research. Six criteria -- Sensual, Authenticity,Functional, Nutritional, Biological, and Ethical--make up this new holistic approach." From this perspective perhaps we have been asking the wrong questions.

One last article of interest is one on the decline of nutrients in American and British food supplies published in the Nov/Dec 1999 issue of Organic Gardening from Rodale Institute. (vol. 46, no 6; link) OG reports on several independent studies pointing to a loss of food nutrients through conventional farming.

I encourage everyone to use those incredible networking capabilities of the organic community to help stop the circulation of "The Superior Value of Organic Foods" article, and I hope that from it blossoms many stimulating conversations that introduce more credible and equally inspiring information .