The Real Reason You Should Be Eating Organic Foods
Opting for organic foods can be daunting. The grocery store becomes a game of dodging high prices and deciphering confusing labels, and the misconceptions run rampant. While it can be overwhelming, we know eating organic reduces our exposure to hormones, chemicals, antibiotics, and pesticides. And now, scientists are better understanding just how important that decreased exposure is to human health.
A new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found a significant decrease in developing cancer in those that ate organic food. The research included around 69,000 French adults—more than three-quarters of which were women in their 40s—and compared the consumption of organic products with cancer rates over the course of about four years.
Those who ate organic foods were 25 percent less likely to develop cancer. Furthermore, they decreased the likelihood of developing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma by 73 percent and postmenopausal breast cancer by 21 percent. The best part? Even those who did not follow an extremely healthy, balanced diet—but chose organic products—had a reduced risk of disease.
The researchers postulate that these findings are not necessarily surprising, as consuming organic foods reduces the amount of pesticides in the body, which have been linked to cancer. While this is just the beginning for this research and more data is needed, this is exciting news for the health-minded community.
If you're looking for ways to be more mindful of what you put in your body, mbg expert Dawna Stone offers eight micro-steps to help you clean up your diet. Her top tip? Choose foods that have not been processed. If processed foods are unavoidable, take a glance at the ingredients and go for products that have fewer ingredients and that you recognize. This way you can eliminate the potential for unwanted additives and get straight to the good stuff. After all, the benefits are lifesaving.
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