Parents Turn to Organic Food

The above headline comes from a November 8, 2005 CNN online story that features the increase of organic foods for children and babies. The story notes that according to the marketing information company ACNielsen, since last year, sales of organic baby food have jumped nearly 18 percent, double the overall growth of organic food sales. A large reason for the change is the concern over the amount of pesticides that appear in non-organic baby food. 

Dr. Alan Greene, a pediatrician in northern California notes that the concern about children is that they are more vulnerable to toxins in their diets.  He states, " As children grow rapidly, their brains and organs are forming and they eat more for their size than do grown-ups."  Dr. Greene went on to say, "Pound for pound, they get higher concentrations of pesticides than adults do."

New government-funded research showed that children whose diets were switched from regular to organic food found their pesticide levels plunged almost immediately. The study then showed that the amount of pesticide detected in the children remained imperceptible until their diets were switched back to conventional food.

Emory University's Chensheng Lu, who led the Environmental Protection Agency-funded research was surprised at the dramatic decrease in toxins in the study after the switch to organic food.  He commented, "We didn't expect that to drop in such dramatic fashion."

The article notes that in non-organic foods, the highest pesticide levels, are found in apples, bell peppers, celery, cherries, imported grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears, potatoes, red raspberries, spinach and strawberries