The BIG Organic Question?

Head to the grocery store these days, and almost everything on your shopping list has an organic equivalent. You can buy organic cereal, soup, chicken, cheese, and yes, even organic burgers.
Organic foods, including produce, meats, grains, and ingredients used to make various products, must be grown without the use of potentially harmful pesticides, chemical fertilizers, antibiotics, or growth hormones. We get healthier food when we eat organic. There are studies that suggest organic produce has higher nutrient levels and studies connecting health risks to the hormones and antibiotics” used in conventional animal products. Some nutritionists argue the differences are negligible, but eating an organic diet is greater than the sum of its parts, because like a savings account, the benefits accumulate over time.
Still, even with the introduction of lower-cost supermarket brands, conventional foods have one irresistibly attractive quality: price. Organic fruits and vegetables typically cost 10 to 30 percent more, and frozen produce, meats, eggs, milk, and processed foods like cereals, soups, and salad dressings run 50 to 100 percent more. So should a runner always shell out the extra cash for the healthier stuff?
Smart Shopping
There are clear differences among fruits and vegetables in their loads of pesticides. Some make sense to buy organic; others don’t matter as much By eating the organic versions of the dirty dozen, you can reduce your exposure to contaminants by 90 percent. If your budget or options are limited, don’t feel bad forgoing organic food. The reason for the difference in pesticide levels varies from crop to crop; some foods require more pesticides than others, and some have their own protective shell, like the skin of a mango or a banana peel. And buy conventional, too, if you can’t find or afford organic produce. Eating fruits and vegetables for the multiple nutrients they provide is the more important thing. The bottom line is that some foods expose you to more contaminants than others. If you can afford to buy organic all the time, it’s better for you-and the planet.
Organic Shopping Guide
What does the label mean? The word organic can be used for both domestic and imported foods. Here’s what the other labels mean:
100 per cent Organic: All ingredients must be organic
Organic: Guarantees 95 per cent of the ingredients are organic
Made with organic ingredients: At least 70 per cent of the contents are organic
from Afternoon Dispatch & Courier