Should You Go Organic?

By Janis Jibrin, Registered Dietitian

You already know that fruit and veggies should be a major part of your diet, but you may be wondering if you should opt for organic, which can be more expensive than conventionally grown produce. Before you lighten your wallet, there are a few things you should consider:

You won’t necessarily get more nutritional bang for your buck with organic.
If you’re considering organic because you think it’s more nutritious, well, the jury’s still out on that. A few studies show that some organically raised produce, such as tomatoes and plums, are higher in vitamin C and, perhaps, a few other nutrients. But so far, the studies are few and they’re too small to make any firm conclusions. What’s more important is freshness: A just-picked conventionally grown tomato will have more vitamin C than an organic tomato that took a week to travel to your supermarket.

A good washing can rid most conventional produce of pesticide residues.
The main difference between organic and conventionally raised produce is pesticide residues. As you might expect, organic produce is free—or virtually free—of pesticide residues. (If there are any residues, which is rare, it’s from drift from other fields, or because the produce was stored with conventionally raised crops.) But fortunately, with a good washing, you can remove nearly all the residues from conventional produce. For instance, in a study at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio1, low levels of pesticide residues were detected in 40 percent of 243 fruit and vegetable samples. After a good washing, residues were seen on only 20 percent. And some conventional produce comes with very, very low residues to begin with (see The Cleanest and Dirtiest Produce below).

Buy organic to do your part for the environment or for the taste.
Organic farming is more environmentally friendly. And, in my experience, organic produce can be more varied and often tastier. The organic farmer might grow interesting varieties of tomatoes, plums or other produce you otherwise wouldn’t get the chance to try. At my local farmers’ market, there are a few organic stands, but the majority are “transition organic,” which basically means that the farmers use very few pesticides, but don't quite qualify for the organic label. I’ve found some of the tastiest fruits and vegetables I’ve ever eaten in these transitional organic stands.

The bottom line: It doesn’t really matter if you fill your cart with conventionally grown or organic produce—as long as you’re filling your cart with produce!