Nutritional Differences Between Organic and Conventional Foods Author: Linda C. Mejia

Nutrient Content of Organic vs. Conventional Crops Nutrient Content of Organic Versus Conventional Crops: Mean Percent Difference, Level Significance, Number of Comparison, And Number of Studies for Statistically Significant Nutrients NutrientMean% difference _________________________________________________________________________ Vitamin C+27.0 Iron+21.1 Magnesium+29.3 Phosphorus+13.6 Nitrates _________________________________________________________________________ Plus ad minus signs refer to conventional crops as the baseline for comparison. For example, vitamin C is 27.0% more abundant in the organic crop (conventional 100%, organic 127%). A comparison consists from the same season, for example, 0.30 mg of zinc in organic

Summary of Results from 10 Animal Studies: Comparisons of Organic with Conventional Feed Higher ovum production in rabbits (6 versus 3 eggs per dam) & chickens (192 versus 150 eggs per hen). Impact on Reproduction Female sales: Testes in better condition in mice; sperm motility greater Young: Fewer perinatal deaths & other deaths prior to weaning in rabbits (mortality rate of 27% versus 51%) in mice (mortality rate of 9% versus 17%) and rats Overall: Fertility rate of rabbits remained constant over 3 generations in organically fed rabbits and declined in rabbits fed conventionally produced feed Impact on Weight Maintenance & Growth Lower percentage weight loss (22.4% versus 37.4%) & longer survival (50 versus 33 days) in birds with polyneuritis. Better weight maintenance in lactating female rats. Higher percentage weight gain in young rats (77% versus 51.4%) and in chickens. Better weight gain after coccidial illness and fewer incidents of illness in chickens.

Differences in Nutritional Content between Organic and Conventional Vegetables Differences in Nutritional Content between Organic and Conventional Vegetables Mean Percent Difference for Four Nutrients in Five Frequency Studies Vegetables __________________________________________________________________ Nutrient __________________________________________________________________ VegetableVitamin CIronMagnesiumPhosphorus Lettuce Spinach Carrot Potato Cabbage

Distribution of Delta Among Organic and Conventional Beef Proteins

Organic and Conventional crop differences

The differences in Ingredients/Processing

Chemicals Used

Organic Labeling Differences