The Organic Food Craze

As our culture becomes more and more health conscious, one pseudoscience that has seen significant rise in the past few years is the market of organic foods; naturally foods raised without any chemicals or additives. The organic food craze was brought on by more and more people realizing that the concept of putting countless fillers, chemicals, pesticides, and preservatives into our body every time we eat a piece of fruit or vegetable does not exactly coincide with the "healthy" nature of these foods. Through this observation, supporters of the organic food movement determined that if food is man-made, it must be inherently bad for you, and if a food is grown naturally, then it must be healthy.

The aftermath has created a huge mainstream market for not only organic foods but products as well. All over America more and more organic products pop up on grocery shore shelves, from the rational organically raised produce options, to the "why in the world would it ever matter?!" options of organic dish soap and hair gel. With the options raising from reasonable to plain ridiculous, people everywhere have bought into this craze. Some people have driven themselves so far with the craze that they have changed their entire lifestyles to only use organic products in their house, an extensive and pricey venture.

But does this new organic craze really equal healthiness? Studies have proven that organic food carries dramatically less health benefits than popular opinion would like to believe. While these foods are rid of many pesticides and chemicals, large farm industries use these chemicals for a reason - to protect the food from contaminants and disease. Organically raised meat often contains less important vitamins and protein and can be more prone to carry disease. These organic farms are not significantly more environment friendly either, as they often require more care and can be more exhausting to the land. Ultimately, freshness is the key determinant to healthy produce and food, a quality often lost in organic foods due to the long time it takes to ship the products from the far away organic farms versus the traditional local farms.