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Dylan Guthrie

Watson

052

October 1, 2017

Is organic food healthier for us?

The topic I chose for my exploratory essay is something that I am interested in and it is

is organic food healthier for us'. I will be talking about if organic food is healthier for us than

other foods and other questions that came up while I did my research like how is organic food

different from farm produce, what are the regulations for organic foods. I would also like to

include in this topic about why organic foods cost more than fast foods.

So is organic food healthy? Well, organic food is all pure foods. According to OCA's

Organic Resource Center "Organic food is pure food. It's safer and more nutritious and free of

chemical additives." This shows that organic food is free from chemicals that they add to other

foods and it is all natural food. This means organic food is safer for you to eat and could be more

nutritious for us too. But what are the chemicals that they add to foods and what are they for?

What chemicals do they put in our food? What are they used for? One of the chemicals

they put in our food is Tartrazine and other food dyes, this helps make our food more appealing

and makes you want to eat it more. According to the reporters from CNN, Jacgue Wilson and Jen

Christensen When Kraft announced last year that it would be removing Yellow No.5

(tartrazine) and No.6 from certain varieties of its Macaroni & Cheese products, advocates

rejoiced." (Wilson, Christensen, Paragraph 5). This shows that Kraft is removing a chemical

from their food which is good. It also shows that Tartrazine is a dye to make foods more

appealing and it is not necessary for our foods.

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Companies will also add other chemicals like Butylated hydroxyanisole into chewing

gum and other types of food. Reporters Wilson and Christensen stated, "because of animals

studies that have shown the chemical can cause tumors in rats' and hamsters' forestomachs

(something humans don't have) and fish livers." (Paragraph 6). Yes, we don't have forestomachs

but we do have livers and this chemical can give animals tumors so we could get tumors from

this chemical also. This chemical is not added to organic foods which is why organic foods are

safer to eat.

They add in Propyl gallate to protect oily foods from going bad. This chemical does make

your foods last longer but if you bought just what you needed and knew you would eat then you

wouldnt have to worry about foods going bad as often. Reporters Wilson and Christensen said

that "meaning it can interfere with humans' hormones." (Paragraph 8). This shows that this

chemical can cause issues in human hormones which isn't good for us. Later in the article, it

states "including fertility issues and an increased risk of some cancers." (Paragraph 8). This

shows increased risk at cancer, the last two chemicals have shown that the risk of cancer is being

increased by chemicals in our foods.

They have also added Sodium nitrate which is used preservation and coloring meats.

This chemical is pretty similar to Tartrazine but a little safer. Wilson and Christensen reported

that "which rats and mice were fed high levels nitrate and nitrate in drinking water, and a

panel reviewed the findings and concluded that nitrate is safe at the levels used.." This chemical

is safe for us to consume and there are more chemicals in it but there are more bad chemicals for

us than there're good.

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This shows several chemicals which they add to our foods to try help preserve them,

color them, make them more appealing to the eye. Yes, chemicals do all of this but they do come

with risks like the increased risk of cancer. CNN states that "Cancer cases are expected to surge

57% worldwide in the next 20 years.." (Hume, Christensen, paragraph 1). This shows that cancer

is on the rise and this could be directly linked to the chemicals in our foods because those

chemicals give us an increased risk of cancer.

Now that you know some of the chemicals they add in normal foods, I want to talk about

the difference in farm produce and organic foods. According to Emily Hepner "Any food that

has a USDA label, whether it's produced, dairy, or meat, must be grown and processed according

to federal guidelines." (Hepner). This shows that organic foods have a specific guideline that

they must follow to be labeled as organic.

Locally grown food is a little different than organic food because there arent government

officials regulating how its produced. Hepner states Food labeled as locally grown is a bit

harder to trust since there is no governing body that keeps track of where the food comes from.

This shows the regulations are loose and they could use chemicals or other sorts of methods to be

grown and we just wouldnt know.

Can local food be organic? Yes, local food can be organic but that's not always the case.

Emily Hepner says "In a study conducted in 2014, researchers found that 25% of American

consumers believed that organic was a characteristic of local food. This is not necessarily true. In

order for local food to be classified as organic, the farmer would need to follow the organic

farming guidelines set by the USDA." (Hepner). This shows that one-fourth of the population

didn't know that there was a difference from organic food and farm produce or local food. If

people want to go full organic than they should look for the organic labels.
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Now that I have shown the difference between farm produce and organic foods, How

does a food get the organic certificate? The producer of the food, whether its livestock or fruits

and vegetables, must go through an important series of events. They will have to turn in an

application to the USDA and the USDA will review it then send an agent out to test the land to

see if it follows their regulation standards. They have to give yearly updates to the USDA and an

agent has to do yearly follow-ups.

Organic farmers tend to use uncomposted animals manures which are basically animal

feces. According to the USDA "The NOP regulations require that uncomposted animals manures

be applied 90 days prior to harvest for crops editable portions do not come in contact with the

soil." (USDA). This shows that farmers have a strict regulation on when they can apply their

animal manure. If they apply their animal manure less than 90 days prior to harvest than they

would lose their organic certification.

There are a lot more regulations that the USDA has and those are how to get food labeled

organic. They have a whole book about it. I think it is great how strict organic food regulations

are because we need to know that is food is truly organic and grown without antibiotics and

pesticides. We also need to know that our foods were grown without antibiotics. This also

includes foods being grown without GMOs.

What is GMO's? GMO's means genetically modified organisms. We are adding

chemicals to our foods to genetically modify them. We do this so we can get a faster production

so we can sell more and keep up with the demand but does that really sound safe? Modifying

foods genetic structure to produce it bigger and faster could sound like a good idea but that

means adding chemicals that will make us sick if we consume it for a while and putting us at a

higher risk for cancer. According to Ira Edwards "In the present circumstances, "GMO" products
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are not safe, and at minimum, should be labeled. (Edwards). This shows that a farmer who

produces food even believes that GMOs are bad for us and should be stopped or labeled so we

know.

So is organic food healthier for us?

Organic foods can help lower the risk of certain

diseases and cancers. It can also give us more

nutrients and it is grown without using chemicals.

I like this picture because it says buy organic

food, 100% healthy. It really shows how organic

food is really grown without those chemicals,

GMOs, and it really shows that it is healthy for

us. The word healthy can be interchangeable though because you can replace it with nutritious

and safe.

Maybe you dont understand how important nutritious foods are to us? According to

Nutritious foods provide significant amount of vitamins, fiber, and other essential nutrients

This shows how much nutritious foods give us. Since organic foods are nutritious then they give

us those nutrients that improve our bodies and keep us going.

What do nutrients do for our bodies though? You may remember in biology class when

they taught you about proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Those are nutrients and nutrients help

provide us energy to keep our bodies going. They can help repair tissue and can help them grow.

They help keep your bones and teeth strong. They also help with digest to help pass foods easier.

Carbohydrates are our main source of energy, without it, our bodies would not function right.
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According to Elizabeth S. Bowers Proteins consist of amino acids that act as the bodys

main building blocks for tissues, such as muscle, skin, bone, and hair. (Bowers). This quote

shows how proteins improve our quality of life because without them than our tissues wouldnt

repair and we wouldnt live as long, we wouldnt be able to do any type of surgery because none

of the tissues would repair. Protein is one of the nutrients given by organic foods.

Organic foods give nutrients like fats too. Yes, fats sound bad but actually having some

fat in your diet is good for you. Fats can provide backup energy when your body runs out of

carbohydrates. Fats help insulate your organs and keep them protects them. Without fats, even

the slightest jolt to our organs could bust them open or cause a bad injury. No, Im not saying fat

is completely good for you but having some fat in your diet is important.

A nutrient that a lot of people forget about is water. Organic foods often times give lots of

water like their fruits are super juicy. According to Bowers "It is involved in many of your

bodies vital functions, and it distributes other essential nutrients to your cells." (Bowers). This

shows how important it is for us to get water in our system. Yes, you can drink water and it's just

as effective but eating organic foods could help give you more water and it never hurts to have

more water in your system to help run things smoother.

In conclusion, I believe organic foods are healthier for us because they are free of

chemicals that can cause various health issues, free of GMO's which adds preservatives and

genetically changes the foods, more nutritious than other foods, and it follows certain guidelines

and regulations to be certified. Organic foods would help keep our bodies a lot healthier, help us

live longer, and have fewer diseases than we would have eating fast foods and other non-organic

foods.
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Work Cited

OCAs Organic Resource Center

https://www.organicconsumers.org/organlink?gclid=Cj0KCQjwpMLOBRC9ARIsAPiGe

ZCldMNNsJ7b0tu8EKkYNdN7gaMoUZdi-J5KExbYpghjquezAlA1E7kaAl12EALw_wcB

Wilson, Christensen, Feb 10th 2014, 4:20pm.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/10/health/chemical-food-additives/index.html

Hume Tim, Christensen Jen, Feb 4th, 2014, 7:20 pm.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/04/health/who-world-cancer-report/index.html

Hepner, Emily, 2017

https://www.webstaurantstore.com/blog/1930/difference-between-local-and-organic-

food.htm

USDA

https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/5006.pdf

https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/Program%20Handbk_TOC.pdf

For picture

Dreamsline.com

Sarah O. Rodman, Academic article, URL was too long

Elizabeth S. Bowers, October 6th, 2014

https://www.everydayhealth.com/hs/guide-to-essential-nutrients/simple-guide-to-good-

nutrition/