The Basic Premise

With the increasing awareness about conventional farming methods, one can trace a paradigm shift towards organic food among the masses. While the organic market has prospered well in countries like USA, Germany and France in the past two decades; the concept is still in its initial stage of development in India. In order to address the rising concerns about environment as well as detrimental lifestyle of the youth, organic food is the need of the hour. So let us assess the real value of organic farming and dispel some myths about it as well.

Basically organic food arises from the sort of farming that shuns conventional practices of pesticide usage, fertilizer dosage and steers clear of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The method of farming is more eco-friendly, sustainable and promotes biodiversity conservation. Even the livestock that is raised organically is given access to outdoor environment and reared on natural grass and not injected with hormones. Since no artificial colouring or sweeteners are added to enhance the flavour of leafy vegetables and fruits, the organic products retain a genuine level of nutrition.

The Benefits

• Many people wish to cut down on the food intake and make healthy food choices yet they feel tempted to give in to sinful pleasures once in a while. In this context consuming organically raised livestock is the best option to go with. Organic foods contain omega-3 fatty acids which provide our body value and nutrition without adding to the body mass. Whereas the saturated fats that are of no value to the human body are present in huge quantities in the animals reared by industrial methods.
• The benefits of organic food are tremendous with regard to our physical well-being. The chief value of organic food lies in the higher ratio of antioxidants as compared to its inorganic counterpart. Antioxidants help in building a strong and sound immune system for the body.
• Similarly organic products are believed to retain a higher amount of essential vitamins. With years passing by, people often develop vitamin deficiency and incur weakness and other illnesses. This situation can be mitigated if we consume organic food.
• The food from conventional farming consists of heavy metals such as cadmium, which corrupt the food products and ingesting such food is no less than a health hazard. Many studies have shown that such repeated exposure to heavy metals affects pregnant women and even foetal development. Such is not the case with organic foods.
• Unlike conventional farming practices that involve excessive spraying of insecticides, organic farming depends on soil tilling, plant and animal manure. Being dependant on natural substitutes rather than pesticide usage, organic food is a much healthier and beneficial choice.

Organic produce is beneficial for both the environment and the populace. However the fact that the nutrition derived from organic food is better than non-organic food is still a matter of wide debate. Nevertheless, a closer look at the way organic foods are grown leaves one in no doubt that it is indeed the wiser choice.