- (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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- "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."
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- 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.
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- "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."
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- 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."
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- 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).
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- 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.
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- Sustainably and organically grown strawberries showed
about 19 percent more antioxidants than conventionally grown strawberries.
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- 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)
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- © 2003 ANI.
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