Health and Nutrition

“As humans, we were never intended to process the infinite list of chemicals presently found in the food chain and in medicines. To state that antibiotic and growth-enhancing chemical intervention in livestock is perfectly harmless in humans, is misleading and irresponsible. These chemicals are responsible for an alarming increase in disease, including cardiovascular disease, obesity, allergies, diabetes, cancers, ADD, ADHD and the rapidly growing incidence of infertility.”

Rene Larsen, Primary Healthcare Practitioner & Nutritionist

DID YOU KNOW THAT…

• Free range chicken is a much healthier option than commercially reared chickens.
• As one of the most versatile meats, chicken is easy to prepare and well-suited for a variety of recipes.
• Skinless chicken breast is highest in protein, vitamin E and vitamin B6 while chicken thigh is highest in iron.
• Chicken drumsticks are great for young children (4-8 years) – not only because it’s easier to eat with their fingers! Compared to other chicken cuts, drumsticks are the highest in omega 3, zinc, thiamine and biotin.
• Teenagers’s diets are usually low in magnesium, phosphorous, zinc and Vitamin E. Chicken drumsticks, thighs and breasts contribute these important nutrients.
• During pregnancy a 100g serving of whole skinless chicken is excellent for providing protein, selenium and vitamins B3 and B6. A 100g serve of skinless drumstick, thigh or whole chicken also provides 100% of the increased requirement for omega-3 during this time.
• The elderly, who are more at risk for a number of nutrient deficiencies, will benefit from eating a wide variety of chicken cuts.

Organic Farming Delivers Healthier, Richer Soil and Nutritionally Enhanced Food
 Six encouraging conclusions on the impacts of organic farming on soil quality and the nutritional content of food were reached by a panel of scientists participating in a symposium at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A growing body of sophisticated research over the last decade has compared the impacts of organic and conventional farming systems on soil and food quality: Studies of apple production demonstrate that organically farmed soils display improved soil health as measured by increased biological diversity, greater soil organic matter, and improved chemical and physical properties. Enhancement of soil quality in organic apple production systems can lead to measurable improvements in fruit nutritional quality, taste, and storability. Organically farmed tomatoes have significantly higher levels of soluble solids and natural plant molecules called secondary plant metabolites, including flavonoids, lycopene, and Vitamin C. Most secondary plant metabolites are antioxidants, a class of plant compounds that have been linked to improved human health in populations that consume relatively high levels of fruit and vegetables.
Organic farming can, under some circumstances, delay the onset of the "dilution effect." In hundreds of studies, scientists have shown that incrementally higher levels of fertilizer negatively impact the density of certain nutrients in harvested foodstuffs, hence the name, the "dilution [of nutrients] effect." Specifically, tomatoes grown with organic fertilizers maintain constant concentrations of beneficial phenolic secondary plant metabolites and antioxidants, even as fruit grow larger, whereas concentrations of these same beneficial compounds decline with increasing fruit size when the same tomato cultivar is grown using conventional methods and fertilizer. Studies of 27 cultivars of organically grown spinach demonstrate significantly higher levels of flavonoids and vitamin C, and lower levels of nitrates. Nitrates in food are considered detrimental to human health as they can form carcinogenic compounds (nitrosamines) in the GI tract and can convert hemoglobin to a form that can no longer carry oxygen in the blood.
  The levels of secondary plant metabolites in food appear to be driven by the forms of nitrogen added to a farming system, as well as the ways in which the biological communities of organisms in the soil process nitrogen. Compared to typical conventional farms, the nitrogen cycle on organic farms is rooted in substantially more complex biological processes and soil-plant interactions, and for this reason, organic farming offers great promise in consistently producing nutrient-enriched foods. Organic soil fertility methods, which use less readily available forms of nutrients, especially nitrogen, improve plant gene expression patterns in ways that lead to more efficient assimilation of nitrogen and carbon in tomatoes. This improvement in the efficiency of nutrient uptake leaves plants with more energy to produce beneficial plant secondary metabolites, compounds that promote plant health as well as human health.
Source: The Organic Center

WHAT IS ORGANICS ALL ABOUT ?

It's about producing goods that work in harmony with, and not against, nature. The aim is to eradicate the use of harmful chemicals by making effective use of nature's natural resources. All organic products are also free of genetically modified organisms (organisms that have had their basic gene structure modified by the addition of external organism genes).

 WHAT IS ORGANIC FARMING?
It is the process of adopting environmentally friendly farming practices that protect soil health, the environment and ultimately your own health. Converting to Organic Farming is very challenging and requires patient and committed farmers. Organic farming is subject to the unpredictability of mother nature - making it vulnerable to weather and pest infestations which have no "quick fix" solutions. Farmers utilize a blend of old and new technologies and scientific research to balance the earth's natural ecosystems.
Examples of organic farming methods include:
* Rotating crops between fields. This helps keep pests from building up and improves soil fertility.
* Planting selected bushes and flowers to attract beneficial insects which ward off unwanted pests.
* Using biological insecticides which make use of pests' natural predators to control pest populations.
Organic farming produces nutrient rich, fertile soil which nourishes the plants. Keeping chemicals off the land protects water quality and wild life. It's also about practising good animal welfare where everything from breeding, rearing and handling, to feeding of animals is strictly regulated and a free range lifestyle is implemented.

Biodiversity and Organic Farming

Biodiversity is the variability of all living organisms -- including animal and plant species -- of the genes of all these organisms, and of the terrestrial, aquatic and marine ecosystems of which they are part.


Biodiversity makes up the structure of the ecosystems and habitats that support essential living resources, including wildlife, fisheries and forests. It helps provide for basic human needs such as food, shelter, and medicine. It composes ecosystems that maintain oxygen in the air, enrich the soil, purify the water, protect against flood and storm damage and regulate climate. Biodiversity also has recreational, cultural, spiritual and aesthetic values. – J Randerson

According to the researchers, organic farming aids biodiversity by using fewer pesticides and inorganic fertilisers, and by adopting wildlife-friendly management of habitats where there are no crops, including strategies such as not weeding close to hedges, and by mixing arable and livestock farming.

Mixed farming particularly benefits some bird species. Lapwings, for example, nest on spring-sown crops, but raise their chicks on pasture. Intensive agriculture has been blamed for the 80% decline in lapwing numbers in England and Wales since the 1960s. One of the reviewed studies from the UK also points to benefits for bats. Foraging activity was up 84% on organic farms and two species, the greater and lesser horseshoe bats, were found only on organic farms.

The studies might even have underestimated the benefits to wildlife, says Phillip Grice of English Nature. Some looked at farms shortly after they turned organic, so wildlife numbers may just have started increasing.

Some argue that farms that adopt a few organic practices, swapping chemical weeding for mechanical, for example, may help wildlife flourish just as much as completely organic farms. And it is possible that farmers who switched to organic farming may have been predisposed towards environmentally friendly methods. So the biodiversity on their farms may have been higher than average before conversion. The current studies are not detailed enough to answer these questions.







Ref: Biological Conservation/ Reed Business Info