Are Organic Foods Safer or Healthier?

Crystal Smith-Spangler; Margaret L. Brandeau; Ingram Olkin; Dena M. Bravata

doi:10.7326/0003-4819-158-4-201302190-00019

Letters |19 February 2013

Are Organic Foods Safer or Healthier?

Crystal Smith-Spangler, MD, MS; Margaret L. Brandeau, PhD; Ingram Olkin, PhD; Dena M. Bravata, MD, MS

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IN RESPONSE:

There has been considerable attention from the media, medical and agricultural research communities, and the general public since the publication of our review, including several comments posted on the Annals Web site. Many of these inquiries asked similar questions, and we would like to share our responses in summary for interested readers. At the end of this letter, we respond to specific comments posted by Dr. Brandt and Dr. Andrews.

We were interested in the evidence of whether organic foods are more nutritious, safer, or healthier than conventional alternatives. Although consumers are probably most interested in whether consumption of organic food improves health or reduces disease, we identified only 17 studies of humans consuming organic and conventional foods and only 3 of these studies examined a very small number of clinical outcomes. Given this limited literature, we next examined indirect measures of health and disease (such as nutrient levels and risk for contamination among organic and conventional products) to understand differences between organic and conventional foods that may influence health and disease.

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Letters |19 February 2013

Are Organic Foods Safer or Healthier?

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Letters |19 February 2013

Are Organic Foods Safer or Healthier?

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