Why Should I care if a Food is Organic?According to the USDA, organic food production allows farmers to lower input costs, decrease reliance on nonrenewable resources, capture high-value markets and premium prices, and boost farm income. Organic agriculture also has many important environmental benefits: (more…)
Organic food was once seen as a niche market but now major multinationals are offering organic products. In fact it has been one of the biggest trends in the food sector in recent years but do organics have staying power, or will consumers lose interest over time?
Thanks to “Organic Processing Magazine” for offering the Center’s Chief Scientist, Dr. Chuck Benbrook, an opportunity to discuss new science pointing to six ways in which organic food can help assure healthy development and graceful aging.
| Jun ’09 |
| 6 |
| 10:00 am |
TLC Network presents Dr. Don Stillings, David Cramer, Dr. Max Gerson, and Leslie Kirchmeier at a Health Mixer at Goodwin’s Organics. The mixer will start at 10am on June 6.
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For years, the USDA has collected and made publicly available annual surveys of pesticide use on major crops. In 2008, no data was collected, ostensibly because of a budget shortfall in the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.
PCC Natural Markets asked the Center’s Chief Scientist, a long-time user of NASS pesticide use data, what the loss of this public pesticide use data means for anyone wanting to understand trends in pesticide use and risks. “Flying blind” describes the consequences of this curious decision by the Bush administration.
Resveratrol, a polyphenolic activator of the silent information regulation 2 homolog 1 (SIRT1), has been shown to extend the lifespan and improve metabolic disease. Other research has found that resveratrol inhibits ethanol-induced steatohepatitis in rats, due to its antioxidant properties. Steatohepatitis is liver disease characterized by inflammation with concurrent fat accumulation. Two of the negative consequences associated with the current obesity epidemic are development of hepatic steatosis and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). With this information in mind, Korean researchers investigated the possible beneficial effects of resveratrol on hepatic gene expression, lipid content, lipid profiles, and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) on mice fed an atherogenic (Ath) diet (Ahn et al, 2008).
Want to know what it means to be organic? How do pesticides effect you? This video is an excellent explanation of the organic movement and how switching to organic food can benefit not only your health, but our planet.
Serious Science, Serious Benefits
Story from www.organiccenter.org
