Organic food and the impact on human health

ABSTRACT

In the last decade, the production and consumption of organic food have increased steadily worldwide, despite the lower productivity of organic crops. Indeed, the population attributes healthier properties to organic food. Although scientific evidence is still scarce, organic agriculture seems to contribute to maintaining an optimal health status and decreases the risk of developing chronic diseases. This may be due to the higher content of bioactive compounds and lower content of unhealthy substances such as cadmium and synthetic fertilizers and pesticides in organic foods of plant origin compared to conventional agricultural products. Thus, large long-term intervention studies are needed to determine whether an organic diet is healthier than a diet including conventionally grown food products. This review provides an update of the present knowledge of the impact of an organic versus a conventional food diet on health.

KEYWORDS:

• Polyphenols
• pesticides residues
• allergies
• fertility
• cardiovascular
• gut microbiota

Funding

This work was supported in part by Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MCOC) under grant AGL2016-75329-R, Generalitat de Catalunya – Departament d'Agricultura, Ramaderia, Pesca i Alimentació – Direcció General d'Agricultura i Ramaderia under grant 53 05012 2016 and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBEROBN) from the Ministerio de Economía, Industria  y Competitividad (MINECO) and Fondo Europeo de desarrolo regional/Fondo social europeo, Unión Europea (FEDER/FSE, UE). The CIBEROBN is an initiative from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII). A.V.-Q. thanks the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities for the Ramon y Cajal contract.