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Why Go Organic?
Friday, December 2, 2011
Photo: Courtesy of xedos4
For the health conscious student who does not have a meal plan, here is some information regarding where your purchased food comes from.
Some individuals choose to buy organically produced food goods. What exactly does this mean? CNN asserts that, organic foods are simply foods which are not grown using synthetic fertilizers, chemicals, radiation or genetic engineering. While the use of fertilizers, chemicals, etc. may sound scary, according to the United States Drug Administration, there is no evidence at this time that these practices affect the nutritional content of the food.
Many other sources disagree. They argue that we don’t know the long term affects yet of consuming pesticides, and it could potentially be very harmful.
How can you know what to choose for yourself? Generally, organic food costs more, and when on a budget, cost is important.
The answer may not be black and white. Consumers may want to choose some organic produce, over others. Certain produce collects and retains more pesticides than others. It has been shown that apples, celery, strawberries, peaches, spinach, bell peppers, potatoes, and blueberries are just some of produce that retain a larger portion of the chemicals and pesticides they have been sprayed with.
At the end of the day however, what matters is that is that we all get the fruits and veggies our bodies need, organically grown or not.
