Massive Study Finds Eating Organic Slashes Cancer Risks

When I was in my late teens, I heard a talk by Dr. Scott Nearing. This was at a Theosophical Society meeting in northern California. I was taking a few months off from close to finishing two degrees from the University of Michigan and found myself hanging out in California for a bit.

Dr. Nearing is credited with starting the organic movement.

He taught Elliot Coleman, who is now also credited with moving this awareness forward.

Dr. Nearing fought for child labor laws. Back when kids in the U.S. were abused in our work forces.

For this, Dr. Nearing was black-balled from professorship at the University of Pennsylvania. Then from all universities.

He went to the woods. First Vermont. Then Maine. These are all long stories, but I digress.

Scott began organic gardening. And maple sugaring.

He wrote 55 books. On awareness, healthy food, and maximizing communities rather than profits.

Dr. Nearing kindly wrote the preface for my very first book, The Foot Book.

Scott said our body is a temple.

Putting better things “in” and getting bad stuff “out” keeps you healthier. To be able to go forward and do whatever you were meant to do.

He and his world famous violinist wife, Helen, fasted every Sunday.

They broke the fast in the evening with a bowl of organic popcorn and fresh veggie juice.

I followed suit and did that for many years. They also fasted for major holidays, like Thanksgiving. I did that for many years. Recently I haven’t been keeping this up. Not fun enough. LOL.

He lived to be 100. Then he fasted himself peacefully toward his next incarnation. As he always said he would do. Helen wrote up this amazing story in Loving and Leaving the Good Life.

Much of my life, since meeting, hanging and learning from Scott and Helen and Elliot, I’ve eaten organic.

Also, I’ve written about the studies that show the amazing benefits of organic versus non. Especially in Hormone Deception (one of the 1st breakthrough books on endocrine disruption).

Pesticides are endocrine disruptors.

I was just lecturing in Indianapolis. The home of the most spraying of pesticides in the US. Many of the farmers have cancer or Parkinson’s Dx.

Here’s now a huge study that should make you want to consume organic as much as you can.

This is reprinted from the Environmental Working Group:

WASHINGTON – Eating organic foods free from pesticides is strongly correlated with a dramatic reduction in the risk of cancer, according to a groundbreaking study published today in an American Medical Association journal.

The observational study led by a team of French government scientists tracked the diets of nearly 69,000 people.

Four years later, those who consumed the most organic foods were 25% less likely to develop cancer.

For people consuming the highest amount of organic food, the study found a significantly lower risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, all lymphomas and postmenopausal breast cancer.

The authors conclude, “Although our findings need to be confirmed, promoting organic food consumption in the general population could be a promising preventive strategy against cancer.”

Pesticides linked to cancer include the weed killer glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup, and the organophosphate pesticides malathion and diazinon. 

“This study provides more evidence suggesting pesticides in food may be harmful,” said EWG Toxicologist Alexis Temkin, Ph.D.

“Low levels of synthetic pesticides, including those linked to cancer and other serious health problems, are found in some conventionally grown fruits and vegetables. Especially for those items, choosing organics is better for health as well as for the environment.”

The scientists focused on 16 different organic food and beverage products, including fruits and vegetables, soy-based foods, eggs, dairy, grains, meat and fish, among others.

Each year, Environmental Working Group releases the Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™, which includes the Dirty Dozen list of conventional fruits and vegetables that consistently have the highest levels of pesticide residues, as well as the Clean Fifteen list showing which conventional foods have the fewest pesticides.

“Nobody wants to eat pesticides, and tracking the explosive growth of the organic industry in the U.S. against the flat sales of its conventional counterparts is all the evidence you need to confirm it,” said EWG President Ken Cook. “Scientists are sounding the alarm on the risks they pose to human health, and consumers are responding.”

Organic foods have been shown to have lower levels of toxic metabolites, including heavy metals such as cadmium, which are hormone disruptors, and synthetic fertilizer and pesticide residues.

Consumption of organic foods may also reduce exposure to antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Knowledge is power.

Dr. B.

References:

Higher antioxidant and lower cadmium concentrations and lower incidence of pesticide residues in organically grown crops: A systematic literature review and meta-analyses. Br. J. Nutr. 2014;112:794–811

Organic food in the diet: Exposure and health implications. Annu. Rev. Public Health. 2017;38:295–313.

Are organic foods safer or healthier than conventional alternatives?: A systematic review. Ann. Intern. Med. 2012;157:348–366.