When you buy organic flax seed oil have you ever asked yourself if the extra expense is worth it? Is organic better for you? Is organic flax oil better than conventional flax seed oil? Now they are big questions! They are not without controversy. The principle arguments as far as I can see them is twofold:
1) Organic food (like organic flax seed oil) is produced without the use of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. In the UK the food standards authority (FSA) say organic food is not safer or posses more nutrients than conventionally produced produce. Are they right? or are they, as some blog posts say, just puppets for large corporate gains.
The view of the FSA is not the view of “The Organic Centre” in the USA. The centre is an organisation looking to “generate credible peer reviewed scientific information and communicate the verifiable benefits of organic farming and products to society”. They have released a report only as far as back as Feb 09 after their scientists found six positive conclusions regarding organic farming and on soil quality and the nutritional content of food compared to conventional farming methods.
Authorities say they put in place large safety margins when they determine safe limits of residual pesticides but isn’t any amount an unneeded/unnecessary extra workload on your body and your liver especially? My opinion is that authorities can come up with levels of chemicals that won’t produce significant obvious health problems but why settle for anything less than optimal functioning in your body and small levels are likely to have some negative effect even if it’s just the using up of a few extra minerals and vitamins to process and eliminate these foreign chemicals.
2) The process of organic food production is more driven by the welfare of the livestock and protection of the soil health and therefore has a more environmental component. Organic farming encourages soil fertility, biological diversity and helps to decrease soil erosion.
So overall, everyone has their own agendas and bias, so who do you believe? Well in part it is down to what sits right with your belief systems. For me if I can afford it, I will buy organic flax seed oil because I ask myself; why give your body any more stress than it already gets through living in the western world by taking in even the smallest amount of industrial chemicals. I also like the fact organic farming methods are also more pro-environment regarding both the animals and soil.
One final thought, organic flax seed oil aside, food produced organically is reputed to taste better!
