Organic EprintsBiologische Qualität: Mögliche Auswirkungen biologisch erzeugter Lebensmittel auf die menschliche Gesundheit KirstenBrandtauthorLornaLückauthorChristophSchmidtauthorChrisSealauthorCarloLeifertauthorThe greatly increased market share of organic food, has prompted increasing interest in investigating whether there are actual differences in the effects of organic and conventional food on health. Previous studies have focussed on composition analyses and have therefore not been able to provide definitive proof for differences between these two food production systems in terms of long-term impact on human health. Also the designs of some of these studies were inadequate to provide proof for definite composition differences. There are virtually no human dietary intervention and cohort studies, which can provide definite proof for potential health impacts. When taking into account the present knowledge in nutrition, toxicology, physiology and ecological science, there are ample examples that the methods used for production of food do impact on food composition or other aspects of food quality, and that these differences are large enough to make a real difference for the consumer in terms of health. Fertilisation methods affect the composition of plant foods, and also the risks of contamination by mycotoxin-producing fungi. Feed and housing similarly affect the composition and microbiology of animal foods. Our understanding of what is good or bad for health advances continuously, and in several cases new data have overturned old dogmas, which were revealed to have been based on (wrong) assumptions rather than good science. For example, probably due to the generally lower availability of nitrogen to the plants, levels of certain secondary metabolites in organic fresh plant foods are consistently higher than in corresponding conventional products (typically 10-50% more). Based on epidemiological data, the increase in life expectancy by a doubling of the intake of (conventional) vegetables has been estimated to 1-2 years. So if the bioactive secondary metabolites are responsible for this effect, changing to organic vegetables without changing intake will increase the life span by 1-12 months. While the differences between production methods are likely to cause general differences in food quality between organic and conventional products, many of the methods that benefit food quality are not necessarily restricted to either organic or conventional systems. Understanding the links between production methods and food quality therefore allows improvement of the products of any system, whether organic or conventional. Food security, food quality and human health2006Conference paper, poster, etc.

Deposit Agreement

In depositing this eprint (a collection of files and associated bibliographic metadata), I grant Organic Eprints the right to make it permanently available on-line, with open access to all or in accordance with any access restrictions that I have specified. (Removal of eprints from the public archive is strongly discouraged, but will be granted upon request.)
I understand that Organic Eprints does not assume any responsibility if there is any breach of copyright in distributing these files or metadata.

For work being deposited by its own first author: I declare that this eprint is my own intellectual property and that I have the right to make it available in Organic Eprints in the manner chosen.

For work being deposited by someone other than its first author: I declare that I have gained the proper permissions from someone with the right to make this eprint available in Organic Eprints in the manner chosen - or that the material is in the public domain.

Clicking on the deposit button indicates your agreement to these terms. If you do not wish to deposit the eprint right now you can return to your user area, where you will find this eprint in your workspace. You can then later edit, clone and deposit it.