Diet plays an important role in our daily lives. Balanced diets are important for our health and can help in prevention of many diseases, thus increasing the quality of life. The food that we eat everyday can be categorized into two types, which are organic food and conventional food. Organic foods are those foods that are termed organically grown food which produced without using synthetic fertilizer made with synthetic ingredients, conventional pesticides, genetic engineering, or ionizing radiation (www.ams.usda.gov, 2007). Conventional foods are the food that produced by using the synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. There is some controversy surrounding this issue. Thus, this resea ...view middle of the document...
mayoclinic.com, 2006). Unlike organic farmers, conventional farmers rely on the concentrated chemical fertilizers to increase the soil fertility. They apply chemical fertilizers to promote plant growth instead of using natural fertilizers to feed soil and plants. Contrary, organic farmers use beneficial insects and birds to reduce pests and disease (Microsoft Encarta, 2006). The common organic pesticide that are used by the organic farmers are copper and sulfurs (Knapp, 2001). In addition, they also introduce a technique called intercropping to control the harmful insects (Microsoft Encarta, 2006). On the other hand, conventional farmers spray synthetic insecticides to reduce disease-causing fungi and harmful insects. The massive use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides can lead to water pollution and soil pollution.Organic foods are considering safer to consume if compared to conventional food. Conventional farmers introduce chemical pesticides on their crops to protect their crops from molds, insects, and disease. These pesticides can leave residues on the produce which is harmful to human health (www.mayoclinic.com, 2006). Organic foods contain far lower levels of pesticides and herbicides when compared to the foods from conventional practices (www.cfni.paho.org, 2004). Studies have found out that conventional foods contain a lot of pesticides and these foods can carry a cocktail of synthetic poisons that affect human health. Researchers have demonstrated that many of these types of chemicals are known to disrupt the production of some nutrient (Faloon, 2001). Studies found out that organically grown food contain more nutrients than conventional food. A peer reviewed scientific article published in the February 2003 edition of the Journal the human immune, nervous, and hormone system (Andre, 2004). Furthermore, studies have of Agriculture and Food Chemistry stated that organically grown corn, strawberries, and Marion berries have more antioxidants than conventional food (www.permaculture.com, 2004). Studies have found out that organically grown vegetable soups contain six times as much salicylic acid, a protective compound against stress and disease than non-organic vegetable soups. Besides, salicylic acid is also responsible for the anti-inflammatory action of aspirin, and helps combat hardening of the arteries and bowel cancer (www.permalculture.com, 2004). Therefore, organic food bring more benefits to human health.Organic food does have some down side. Organic food is more expensive compared to conventional food (Duyff, 2002). Higher costs of the organic food are due to more expensive farming practices, tighter government regulation and low crop yields (http://ag.arizona.edu, 2006). Furthermore, because synthetic herbicides and pesticides are not used, many management tools that control weeds and pests are labor intens...
