Whole Foods Diet Archives

Foods as drugs? Archive in monopoly.

Friends,

Comments?

Namaste`

Walt

Thanks, Misty.

No wonder the PTB are doing everything they can to water down the definition
of "organic" and classify any of the effective foods as drugs!

Namaste`

Walt

----- Original Message -----
From: "Misty L. Trepke"
To:
Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2003 2:04 PM
Subject: [searching-alternatives] Organically Grown Foods' High
Cancer-Fightings Elements

Enjoy...
Misty
http://www.searching-alternatives.com

Organically Grown Foods' High Cancer-Fightings Elements

(ANI) -- Fruits and vegetables are good for us for numerous reasons,
but researchers now emphasise that fruits and veggies that are
organically grown have higher levels of cancer-fighting antioxidants
than those conventionally grown, according to a report in Journal of
Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

The new study suggests pesticides and herbicides actually thwart the
production of phenolics - chemicals that act as a plant's natural
defense and also happen to be good for human health. Fertilizers,
however, seem to boost the levels of anti-cancer compounds.

Flavonoids are phenolic compounds that have potent antioxidant
activity. Many are produced in plants in response to environmental
stressors, such as insects or competing plants.

"If an aphid is nibbling on a leaf, the plant produces phenolics to
defend itself," says Alyson Mitchell, Ph.D., a food scientist at the
University of California, Davis, and lead author of the
paper. "Bitter or harsh phenolics guard the plant against these
pests."

The need for these natural safeguards decreases with the use of
herbicides and pesticides in conventional agriculture. This decrease
is reflected in the total amount of antioxidants the plants
produce. "This helps explain why the level of antioxidants is so
much higher in organically grown food," Mitchell says.

"By synthetically protecting the produce from these pests, we
decrease their need to produce antioxidants. It suggests that maybe
we are doing something to our food inadvertently."

For the study, Mitchell measured antioxidants found in corn,
strawberries and a type of blackberry called a marionberry. "We
started with these three due to plant availability," he said, "but
we intend to widen our search to include tomatoes, peppers, broccoli
and a variety of other vegetables. We expect these results to be
transferable to most produce."

The investigation compared the total antioxidants found in foods
grown organically (using no herbicides, pesticides or fertilizers)
to foods grown sustainably (in this study fertilizers but no
herbicides or pesticides were used) and conventionally (using
synthetic chemicals to protect the plants and increase yield).

The results showed a significant increase in antioxidants in organic
and sustainably grown foods versus conventionally grown foods. The
levels of antioxidants in sustainably grown corn were 58.5 percent
higher than conventionally grown corn. Organically and sustainably
grown marionberries had approximately 50 percent more antioxidants
than conventionally grown berries.

Sustainably and organically grown strawberries showed about 19
percent more antioxidants than conventionally grown strawberries.

Antioxidant levels were highest overall in sustainably grown
produce, which indicates that a combination of organic and
conventional practices yields the highest levels of antioxidants.
This may reflect the balance between adequate nutrition in the form
of fertilizers and external pest pressures because of the lack of
pesticides and herbicides," Mitchell explained. (ANI)

© 2003 ANI.

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