Organic Food and Kids
It’s hard not to be inspired to eat healthier when we see Michelle Obama digging up a patch on the South Lawn of the White House for the purpose of planting an organic vegetable garden. After all, if the First Lady can start her own organic garden (with perhaps the help of a few dozen school kids and a team of professional White House gardeners), shouldn’t the rest of us try to at least cut out fries or something? Mrs. Obama may be the first First Lady to recognize the organic food movement in the U.S., but the term “organic” has been around for quite some time. Organic farming was an idea first discussed by naturalist and ecologist Lord Northbourne in his 1940 book Look to the Land. He described a holistic, ecologically balanced approach to farming, as opposed to chemical farming which relies on imported fertility and cannot be self-sufficient. Organic farming is a definite win/win for the environment – less pollution, better for wildlife and produces less carbon dioxide. Today, Northbourne’s idea of chemical farming is exactly what the U.S. farmer or “corporate agribusiness” uses to produce its crops.
Where does organic fit into the lives of kids? More than three-quarters of the nation’s grocery stores now carry organic food items. Yet, going organic can cost up to 40% more than conventionally grown produce. For the average American family trying to cut costs during this recession, the weekly trip to the grocery can become a nutritional/financial dilemma. If you have two dollars to spend on apples at the grocery this week, should your kids eat only one apple if it’s organic or two if they’re not?
The answer to that largely depends on who you want to believe. The USDA claims no conclusive evidence shows that organic food is more nutritious than conventionally grown food. As the governing body that also is responsible for certifying organic food, the USDA says organic foods are not proven to be safer or more nutritious.
However, there’s no denying the fact that ingesting chemicals are bad for you. Obviously a dramatic analogy, but feeding your kid the non-organic apple might just be like putting Windex in his sippy cup. It is now estimated that 60% of all herbicides, 90% of all fungicides and 30% of all pesticides – all chemicals used in conventionally grown agriculture – are carcinogenic. Recently, a new federal law mandated all agricultural chemicals in use be tested to determine whether organ damage, birth defects, miscarriages, sterility, endocrine system problems and other risks are associated with each chemical. Many of the chemicals currently being used were approved by the EPA and the FDA long before extensive research had been done linking them to cancer.
The argument can be made that since children eat more than adults relative to their weight; children consume more pesticides than adults. The Environmental Working Group – a nonprofit research organization aimed at protecting children from toxic chemicals in our food, water, air — concluded that the biggest factor in your risk of cancer from pesticide residues occurs in childhood.
A study published by the National Research Council in 1993 determined that for infants and children, the major source of exposure to pesticides is through diet. A recent study in 2006 measured the levels of pesticides in 23 school-aged children before and after replacing their diet with organic food. The study showed that levels of pesticides exposure dropped dramatically and immediately when the children switched to an organic diet.
Pauline Woods Bannan, a mom of five from Demarest, NJ, says giving her kids organic food is an important choice not only for their health, but for the environment, as well. “I feed my kids organic foods because it has less impact on our environment and less chemicals entering their bodies. The cumulative effects of all those chemicals are unproven, so I play on the “safe” side.” Bannan says she always buys organic diary and produce, specifically, the types that require the most chemicals to produce conventionally, including apples, pears, strawberries, peppers, spinach and raspberries.
So, what’s a conscientious parent to do? Perhaps one small step is checking into the types of chemicals used in conventional farming and comparing them to organic foods. The Environmental Working Group publishes – and regularly updates – it’s “Dirty Dozen” list, the twelve most contaminated fruits and vegetables. Currently on the list are: peaches, bell peppers, apples, strawberries and lettuce (for a complete list, visit ewg.org).
When all else fails, and you’re standing in the produce aisle of your local supermarket, trying to desperately to figure out what to buy (while, most likely, your 3-year old is throwing a tantrum over lollipops) you can boil it all down to the simple advice of Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Basically, feed your kids (and yourself) real, well-grown, unprocessed food. Whether or not it’s organic…is up to you.
