Even if you have never purchased, or knowingly consumed, organic food, you have certainly heard others talking about how fabulous it is over the past couple of decades. Most likely the things you have heard about organic food have been generally positive. If the question were posed to you, do you think you would be able to provide others with a complete and lucid organic food definition? Actually, how many people who talk about it would be able to define organic food?
Despite the fact that organic food has been all the rage by nutrition fanatics and hippies for decades now, there are still quite a few incorrect organic food definitions floating around. Erroneously, many folks think that food is organic if it is grown without fertilizer or some kind of mysterious growth hormone. Some of the more humorous organic food definitions espouse beliefs that organic food is somehow magically grown with a higher abundance of vitamins and minerals.
While an accurate definition of organic food can be phrased in several ways, organic food is basically food that is produced without the aid of synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. Those who favor organic food claim that organic food is superior to normal food because it is healthier, tastes better, and is lower in pesticide residue, contaminants, and anti nutrients.
Unbiased, scientific studies that have been conducted to measure the true advantages of organic food over common food have show that food grown organically is lower in bacteria and pesticide residue, but that it contains the same amount of nutrients than standard food. There is also no evidence that organic food tastes any better than food that is grown in the conventional, modern way.
The bottom line is that there really is not much difference between organic food and food that is grown with the typical amount of fertilizer and insecticides. However, researchers believe that all of the positive talk surrounding organic food has created a psychological phenomenon that they call a Halo Effect. The halo effect causes people to believe in their sweet, sincere little hearts that organic food is actually healthier and tastes better than common food, although no supporting evidence exists.