Organic Agriculture and Food Utilization

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS 90. Food safety: Many aspects of organic agriculture reduce the risks of pathogens (zoonoses), mycotoxins, bacterial toxins and industrial toxic pollutants, compared to conventional agriculture. However, some other aspects potentially increase them. Reduced resistance to antibiotics in zoonotic pathogens indicates a better prognosis for patients if an infection does occur. For natural plant toxins, the content in plants appears to systematically be 10 to 50 percent higher than in conventional plants. However, this is in a range of concentrations where these compounds have no toxic effect and may even benefit human health. 91. Pesticide poisoning: This is an area where very substantial health problems have been documented, especially among farmers and their families. Pesticide poisoning causes some 20 000 deaths per year globally and an average of 11 days wages lost due to illness, per farmer per incidence, in some areas. Even symptom-free workers often exhibit biomarker changes indicating increased risk of diseases, including Parkinson’s disease. With the present level of knowledge, elimination of such horrible conditions, which can be achieved on a short timescale, is the quantitatively single most important benefit of organic farming in terms of human health. Still, long-term occupational exposure to copper also increases the risk of Parkinson’s disease, but not as much as exposure to synthetic pesticides. 92. Pesticide residues: The levels in organic products are consistently 4 to 5 times lower than in conventional products. However, no definitive causal connection with harm to consumers has ever been demonstrated for food produced in accordance with general (conventional) food safety rules. Errors and accidents can cause contamination with harmful levels of pesticides, but this risk is eliminated when no pesticides are present. Across the different safety risks in both systems, the best managers achieve much better standards than the average producers, and the occurrence of serious hazards is so low that no significant differences have been demonstrated between production systems. 93. Food quality: Consumers generally appreciate that food is authentic and trustworthy and produced with care for them and the environment. So reduced food additives and pesticide residues, good traceability and emphasis on animal welfare all support the perception of organic food as being of high-quality. Differences in taste between organic and conventional food products are strongly affected by interaction with local aspects and therefore show few general trends. Only poultry (broiler) produced according to the organic standards results in a clearly differentiated taste compared with mainstream conventional products. 94. Nutritional adequacy: In developing countries, organic agriculture has several advantages for the provision of nutrients, such as higher Zn/phytate ratio and better amino acid composition in cereals. Also, a more balanced diet due to the greater diversity of organic rotations, including legumes and various types of vegetables, and the need for animals on each farm provide important nutritional benefits. In developed countries, nutritional value is much more difficult to determine. However, the higher levels of plant secondary metabolites and conjugated fatty acids in milk may provide important protection against cardiovascular disease, cancer and other diseases known to be influenced by diet. 95. Human health: Epidemiological studies have shown better health scores among consumers of organic food for immunological characteristics and weight control, and similar benefits have been reproduced in animal studies, supporting a possible causal role of the food production system. 96. Post-harvest operations: Higher activity of plant defense mechanisms in organic plants reduces the losses during transport and storage. The preference for local products and short supply chains also reduce the loss of quality during transport. 97. Pollution of drinking water: Organic farmers have substantially higher economic incentives than conventional farmers to establish and maintain sufficient capacity for collection, composting and incorporation of animal and human wastes as valuable fertilizer. This is particularly important in areas where sanitation is not provided or standards not enforced by the authorities. Such measures will also substantially reduce contamination with nitrates and phosphorus. There is little evidence that these minerals have any harmful effects on humans, if the drinking water is free of pathogens, except by promoting blooms of toxic algae. 98. Pollution of the environment: Persistent pesticides (such as DDT) have damaged wildlife globally and are still being used in many developing countries. Organic agriculture protects the local environment against all types of pesticides and has potential to benefit the global situation if the proportion of land under organic management becomes large enough to reduce the total use. Pollution with nitrate and phosphorus are major causes of eutrophication. Organic farms leach lower levels of phosphorus into drainage water than conventional ones. For nitrate, the loss from organic farms tends to be slightly lower than conventional, except when comparing organic outdoor pig production with conventional indoor production. However, recent data indicate that organically managed soil may be more efficient at denitrification, releasing most of the nitrate into the atmosphere as harmless N2. If this is a general trend, the benefits of organic farming are much larger than previously estimated

Investigations of organic food and health

Numerous studies have attempted to elucidate if there is a difference in the effect on human health, between food produced according to the organic standards compared with conventionally produced food. While many studies support a few general trends of differences in food composition, none have provided any conclusive evidence for differences in the effects on human health. Most of the studies have been inadequate in size or focus to allow any definitive conclusions. The major problem is the complexity of the issue, and the general paucity of knowledge about the impact of food on health, which means that it is virtually impossible to tackle all relevant uncertainties in any one study. Instead a whole range of different types of studies are needed to provide a conclusion. Presently, a study is in progress, which attempts to provide some of the missing key information on this issue. This study comprises controlled cultivation of plants in three different models of growing systems for two years, and feeding rats for 3 generations on diets composed of these plants. It will show if food from different growing systems can result in differences in health of rats, and if so, which aspects of health are affected. However, if differences are found, subsequent studies will be necessary to determine the applicability and possible consequences for human health. Still, together with other existing and planned studies it might soon be possible to determine some of the consequences for human health of the methods used for food production. This could result in increased demand for organic food, and it could at the same time lead to changes in the farming methods in either organic or conventional production systems. In any case, this type of research will improve crucial aspects of the knowledge base, which is needed also in other contexts, to support the efforts to improve food safety and quality

Which aspects of health are likely to be affected by our choice of food quality, such as organic food, and how can we investigate this question?

There are ample examples that the methods used for production of food do make a difference for food composition or other aspects of its quality, and that some of these differences are large enough to make a real difference for the consumer in terms of health. Some of these differences may in fact cause (yet unproven) general differences in food quality between organic and conventional products. However, many of the production 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. Many of these benefits are linked with what is presently common practice in organic farming, but which is not prescribed by the regulations, and for these the main challenge can be to conserve existing quality benefi ts during further development of the productivity of organic methods

Advantages and pitfalls of different types of studies for investigations of the impact of food on health

Several types of studies can be used to elucidate various aspects of the effect of food on human health. The main categories are: • Epidemiological (observational) studies with humans. These can be prospective, where the diet is recorded and health indicators are moni-tored after the first recording, or retrospective, where people who have a disease are identified and it is then investigated if their diet has been different from those who did not get the same disease. • Intervention studies with animals or humans, where the outcome is differences in indicators of health between groups eating different controlled diets. • In vitro studies, where specific aspects of the mechanisms of the effects of food or food com-ponents are studied in cell cultures, isolated or-gans or on enzyme activities. Each type of study is useful for elucidation of certain types or aspects of hypotheses. They also differ in terms of sensitivity (precision) and accuracy (risk of confounding with other influences than the food it-self). A thorough understanding of the effect of a food on human health requires that all three types of stud-ies give corresponding and predictable results

A New Phytochemical Screening Programme used for Crops grown with Organic and Conventional Methods

A broad screening programme, covering the most general phytochemical groups of compounds, was developed on the basis of Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC). A total of 46 TLC systems, comprising 26 derivatization reagents, 3 stationary phases, and 4 mobile phases, were included. The TLC systems were classified according to the groups of phytochemical compounds detected: Alcohols and phenolic compounds; Carbohydrates; N-containing compounds; Organic acids and lipids; P-containing compounds; S-containing compounds, and Terpenoids. Furthermore, one group of TLC systems detected compounds from several of the mentioned groups. The screening programme was applied in the screening of potatoes (S. tuberosum L.), peas (P. sativum L.), kale (B. oleracea L.), carrots (D. carota L.), and apples (M. domestica Borkh.), cultivated with combinations of organic and conventional methods for plant protection and nutrient supply, for phytochemical differences (biomarkers). Distinctive phytochemical differences were found between the differently cultivated samples of these crops. In peas and carrots only one biomarker was found. In peas the biomarker was related to the soil conditions, while the biomarker in carrots was related to the use of pesticides. In potato, two biomarkers related to the use of pesticides were found. Three biomarkers were found in kale. Two of these could be related to the use of pesticide, while the last was related to either fertiliser or soil conditions. Several biomarkers were found apples, but a relation to the cultivation methods was not clear. Three of the biomarkers in apples could be related to either the use of pesticides or fertiliser, while no conclusions could be drawn from the other biomarkers found. The results of the screening programme form the basis for a potential development of a kit to detect whether crops are organically- or conventionally cultivated. Furthermore, the results from this part and other parts of the project "Organic food and health – a multigenerational animal experiment" provide basis for the selection of which secondary compounds to quantify by specific chemical analysis, isolate, and/or structure elucidation

Effect of organic and conventional crop production systems on food quality and safety

A range of comparative studies have recently been carried out to compare the composition of foods produced in organic, “low input” and conventional production systems. This paper will review the currently available information on nutritional differences between organic and non-organic crops. It will also describe the Nafferton Factorial Systems Experiment which was established as part of the IP Quality-LowInputFood to study the effect (and interactions between) (a) rotational design, (b) fertility management and (c) crop protection regimes on crop quality and safety

Entwicklung von Qualitätsstandards für Patient*innen mit axialer Spondyloarthritis zum Einsatz in Deutschland

Qualitätsstandards (QS) sind messbare Konstrukte, die helfen sollen, Versorgungslücken quantitativ zu erfassen, um langfristig die Versorgungsqualität zu verbessern. Die Assessment of SpondyloArthritis International Society (ASAS) hat kürzlich erstmals internationale QS für das Management von Patient*innen mit axialer Spondyloarthritis (axSpA) konsentiert und veröffentlicht. Die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Rheumatologie (DGRh) hat daraufhin beschlossen, diese Standards durch eine Gruppe von Expert*innen aus unterschiedlichen Versorgungsbereichen zu übersetzen, zu prüfen und ggf. zu übernehmen. Vor diesem Hintergrund wurden erstmals nationale QS für das Management von Patient*innen mit axSpA für Deutschland entwickelt. Hierbei wurde v. a. auf Machbarkeit und Praxisrelevanz geachtet. Letztlich wurden 9 QS definiert, mit denen die Qualität der Versorgung in Deutschland gemessen und verbessert werden kann bzw. soll.Quality standards (QS) are measurable constructs designed to quantify gaps in care and subsequently to improve quality of care. The Assessment of SpondyloArthritis International Society (ASAS) recently generated and published international QS for the management of patients with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) for the first time. The German Society of Rheumatology (DGRh) then decided to translate, review and possibly adopt these standards by a group of experts from different care settings. Against this background, national QS for the management of patients with axSpA for Germany were developed for the first time. The main focus was on feasibility and practical relevance. Ultimately, nine QS were defined with which the quality of care in Germany can and should be measured and improved