In Which Universal Healthcare and Organic Produce are Correlated (a non-scientific, non-study)

There are many more important issues I could be attending to at the moment, yet I find myself sitting at the computer reading through a scientific study done on food.

There are two reasons for this.

One, since being diagnosed with infertility and endometriosis I have tried to change my eating habits: no more wheat, no meats with added hormones, and more organic produce when studies have shown the man-made chemical content to be significantly higher in certain conventionally produced fruits and vegetables (among other things). As you might imagine, eating this way has caused the grocery spending this year to soar to astronomical heights. Did you realize it is possible to buy a red bell pepper for $5? Yeah, for ONE bell pepper! I think I once had to buy a (as in ONE) medium-sized tomato for $3.

Two, my husband somehow has some extra time I don't know about to read news articles...nah. He must have heard it on the radio in the car. So, last night he informed me that a study was done showing there's no health benefit to eating organic versus conventional foods. This declaration has floated around for a few years now, but apparently yesterday it was important enough to be addressed on talk radio.

So I just found the research study...done by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Tropical medicine? Really? Yes. I have no idea.

Admittedly, I then thought, "This from a country who is fast becoming as obese as America and has a universal healthcare system that ensures equally useless and poor medical care for all? (A situation that America seems intent on emulating shortly.) Does it really make sense to dissuade the populace from eating the expensive organic vegetables?"

(By the way, has anyone in our government taken a gander at the UK's health system? I mean, because that's where we're headed. But that's an entirely different post.)

And you know what I learned from the study?

Nothing that makes any difference to me.

OK, here it is: organic produce does not have better or more nutrients, vitamins, and minerals than other produce. Not adding pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, or fertilizer to plants will not just make the produce have super doses of vitamin C or iron or what-have-you.

This, I already knew. And this is what the London group researched. They specifically did not study the contents of pesticides, herbicides or fungicides in various produce. I figure those chemicals may have negative effects on me and the environment.

Even if they don't, much of the organic produce I buy just tastes so much better.

(Incidentally, the hormone-free meat also has better texture and flavor. In my humble opinion. Which is really mostly what this blog is.)

I guess I'm willing to pay a lot more for groceries that have even the tiniest potential of keeping me healthy for longer.

(Because goodness knows there will probably be no medical care that's worth anything available to me by the time I reach old age.)

P.S. I have been diligently trying to solve the $5 for a red bell pepper problem by growing my own. Trouble is, they just won't get very big before something eats them or a disease of some sort rots them. Now I know why those darn organic red bell peppers are worth $5 apiece!