Abstract
This review summarises existing evidence on the impact of organic food on human health. It compares organic vs. conventional food production with respect to parameters important to human health and discusses the potential impact of organic management practices with an emphasis on EU conditions. Organic food consumption may reduce the risk of allergic disease and of overweight and obesity, but the evidence is not conclusive due to likely residual confounding, as consumers of organic food tend to have healthier lifestyles overall. However, animal experiments suggest that identically composed feed from organic or conventional production impacts in different ways on growth and development. In organic agriculture, the use of pesticides is restricted, while residues in conventional fruits and vegetables constitute the main source of human pesticide exposures. Epidemiological studies have reported adverse effects of certain pesticides on children’s cognitive development at current levels of exposure, but these data have so far not been applied in formal risk assessments of individual pesticides. Differences in the composition between organic and conventional crops are limited, such as a modestly higher content of phenolic compounds in organic fruit and vegetables, and likely also a lower content of cadmium in organic cereal crops. Organic dairy products, and perhaps also meats, have a higher content of omega-3 fatty acids compared to conventional products. However, these differences are likely of marginal nutritional significance. Of greater concern is the prevalent use of antibiotics in conventional animal production as a key driver of antibiotic resistance in society; antibiotic use is less intensive in organic production. Overall, this review emphasises several documented and likely human health benefits associated with organic food production, and application of such production methods is likely to be beneficial within conventional agriculture, e.g., in integrated pest management.
Highlights
The long-term goal of developing sustainable food systems is considered a high priority by several intergovernmental organisations [1,2,3]
Suggestive evidence indicates that organic food consumption may reduce the risk of allergic disease and of overweight and obesity, but residual confounding is likely, as consumers of organic food tend to have healthier lifestyles overall
The use of pesticides is restricted, and residues in conventional fruits and vegetables constitute the main source of human exposures
Summary
The long-term goal of developing sustainable food systems is considered a high priority by several intergovernmental organisations [1,2,3]. Several systematic reviews and meta-analyses [25, 157,158,159] with different scopes, inclusion criteria and statistical methods have summarised several hundred original studies reporting some aspect of plant chemical composition in relation to conventional and organic production, in search of overall trends across crops, varieties, soils, climates, production years etc. The published meta-analyses indicate a modestly higher content of phenolic compounds in organic food, but the evidence available does not constitute a sufficient basis for drawing conclusions on positive effects of organic compared to conventional plant products in regard to human health. Transition to organic production for the whole livestock sector would, on its own, be only part of a solution to the antibiotics resistance issue, because factors outside animal production, such as their use in humans, will be unaffected
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