Are we just buying into a fad or is organic food the way to a healthier diet?The environment and wildlife may benefit, but there is little evidence to suggest organic food is better for us, writes Sylvia Thompson.
There is little doubt that organic farming is better for wildlife, causes lower pollution from sprays, produces less dangerous wastes and often has higher animal welfare standards, but is the food produced from organic farming really any better for us to eat?
This is a question that vexes many and causes a huge divide between those who believe organic food not only tastes better but is also more nutritious and those who don't.
There are many claims about how organic food is better for us simply because of the absence of artificial fertilisers. The dangers of fertilisers and pesticides are well documented and the presence of endocrine-disrupting chemicals have been linked to particular forms of hormone-dependent cancers such as breast cancer and prostate cancer.
Endocrine-disruptive hormones have also been linked to declining sperm counts, and a Danish organic farming organisation found that sperm concentration was higher among men eating organically produced food.
"Once you apply fertiliser to the land, the plant is forced to take it up, which produces weak cell growth. This weak cell growth leaves the plants susceptible to disease which sets up the need for pesticides," explains Josef Finke, organic producer and processor and a director of the Irish Organic Trust.
"In organic farming, this weak link is eradicated through not applying fertilisers and the produce is naturally more nutritious," he adds.
There is also some evidence that suggests artificial fertilisers increase the water content of fruit and vegetables and, in so doing, dilutes the nutrient content.
Advocates of organic produce also argue that since organic crops are not artificially protected with pesticides, they tend to produce more naturally occurring phytonutrients, many of which are valued for their anti-oxidant properties.
In a review of evidence comparing the vitamin and mineral content of organic and conventionally grown food, the British Soil Association found that, on average, organic food contains higher levels of vitamin C and essential minerals such as calcium, magnesium and iron.
Another study found that organic crops had higher levels of 21 nutrients compared with conventional produce.
Yet, despite these various studies, many national food boards continue to say that organic food is not significantly different in terms of food safety and nutrition from food produced conventionally.
"There isn't enough evidence yet to say that the quality of organic food is higher than conventional food," says Padraig Brennan, senior analyst of the organic industry with An Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board.
However, "consumer perception is that organic food is natural, it tastes good and is a more traditional type of food," he adds.
"Further scientific research is necessary, although such positive consumer perception is leading to a growth in demand in organic food.
"We are seeing a growth of about 10 per cent a year even if the organic sector is still in its infancy here, representing 1 per cent of the entire food market."
The lack of evidence may be one reason why national food boards won't come out in favour of organic foods.
Josef Finke believes that, as their brief is to promote a whole range of foods, "food boards will never say anything that will put conventional foods down".
The reality that many people still don't eat a nutritionally balanced diet from conventional produce may also be a factor in the lack of emphasis on how organic produce may be even better for us.
That organic produce is often more expensive may also deter more widespread promotion by State boards or retail stores.
In many ways, organic food is still perceived to be a niche market of consumers who are very selective of what foods they buy.
However, as organic baby food now accounts for almost 50 per cent of baby food bought internationally, this suggests a broader trend. And in Italy, school food laws passed in 2002 state that 100 per cent of food served in schools to children aged between three and 10 must be organic by 2005.
One French study, which was presented at Biofach, the international organic fair in Nuremberg, Germany, earlier this year provides some interesting food for thought.
A literature review of 300 publications by 44 French experts, many of them sceptical of organic agriculture, concluded that the overall nutritional benefit of organic food seems not too different from conventional food.
However, organic cereals were found to have a more balanced composition of essential amino acids; organic meat had a higher content of non-saturated fatty acids; and many organic foods (such as apples, tomatoes, peaches, pears, wine and olive oils) had a higher content of flavenoids, plant nutrients valued for their anti-oxidant properties.
Two new studies, the results of which are due out next year, will perhaps provide the defining evidence for the organic sector.
The Dutch Koala Study will look at the effects of organic food on the health of 500 mothers and their babies over four years compared with 2,000 mothers and babies who are on conventional diets.
Meanwhile, in Newcastle University, England, researchers will test crops of cabbages, lettuces, wheat and potatoes grown organically, and those grown using synthetic pesticides and fertilisers to compare factors such as taste and nutritional quality.
The first set of results from this study are due in January.
So, as we await the findings of these scientific studies, perhaps the best advice is to buy some organic produce alongside your conventionally produced fare.
That way, you get to compare tastes and enjoy a diversity, which is essentially what a balanced diet is all about.
A Guide to Organic Food and Farming, a free information leaflet on organic produce and where it can be purchased, will be available in supermarkets and farmers markets from mid-September. The leaflet is the first of its type to be produced by the Irish Organic Market Development Group.