You’re at the supermarket shopping in the fruits and
On average, the organic produce is 47 percent more expensive than standard produce, so buying two organic apples will cost you about the same as three conventional apples. But maybe you’re worried about pesticide residue or the nutritional value you will get out of each apple.
In the past few years, organic produce has become increasingly popular across the United States. No longer just a fad in wealthy communities, middle- and lower-income families are now increasingly turning to organic produce. People have begun viewing the organic option as the healthy option, and stigmatizing conventional produce as less healthy or worse for their family.
But is organic actually healthier? While there are many valuable reasons to purchase organic, such as sustainability and animal welfare, health may not be one of them.
Choosing to buy only two organic apples instead of three conventional ones is a worse decision for your health and the health of your family. It’s more important to eat fruits and veggies, period, than to only eat organic.
If consumers eat fewer fruits and vegetables due to fear of conventional produce, public health will suffer. Organic produce does not provide increased nutritional benefit to consumers as compared to conventional produce. A recent study from Stanford University found little significant difference in health benefits between organic and conventional. Bjorn Lomborg, the director of Copenhagen Consensus Center, says that based on data from the World Cancer Research Fund, if you “omit just one apple every 20 years because you have gone organic, you’re worse off.”
The public movement towards organic has consequentially led to a more hesitant and negative attitude towards conventional produce. Fear of conventional produce and the increased prices of organic may cause some lower-income consumers to purchase fewer fruits and vegetables.
Researchers at the Center for Nutritional Research at the Illinois Institute of Technology found that lower-income shoppers associated organic with no pesticides and conventional with pesticides, but were also less likely to buy organic produce because of higher prices. After learning about pesticide residues on produce, participants said they were “less likely” to buy any fruits and vegetables. These results imply that organic produce could be harming our community’s health by discouraging people from consuming more affordable, conventional fruits and veggies.
Despite common myths, organic produce are grown with pesticides, just different pesticides than conventional. These pesticides have not been shown to be significantly less harmful to human health. We do not know the long-term effects of organic versus conventional pesticides on human health. While consumption of organic foods may decrease risk to pesticide exposure, realistically the best way to avoid consuming an unhealthy amount of pesticides is by thoroughly washing all your produce, not by switching to organic.
Whether or not you have the means to purchase organic produce, there needs to be a change in the narrative around conventional foods. Conventional fruits and vegetables are an equally excellent source of nutrition for families. The biggest risk to our community’s health does not lie in pesticide residues on conventional produce, but in failing to eat fruits and veggies.
Organic or conventional, we all need to eat more fruits and vegetables, however they’re grown or labeled.
— Alessandra Marcone ’20
Contact Alessandra Marcone at amarcone ‘at’ stanford.edu.