By Sarah A LoBIsco, ND
This is the conclusion to the article on my homepage, “The Power of Choice in Natural Medicine.”
In it, I discussed how organic foods are a wiser choice for consumption.
This is for a variety of reasons:
1. There are less antibiotic-resistant microbes present
2. They are free of genetically modified organisms
3. They are virtually no toxic pesticides, herbicides, and chemicals
4. Organic food is free of sewer sludge
And..
Eating Organic livestock decreases the chance of food borne illness
Poultry contamination is the number one cause of food borne illness. This may be why conventionally raised livestock consumes 80% of antibiotics per year.
According to the CDC not only was poultry the most common causes food poisoning, but also account for the most amount of deaths:
Contaminated poultry was to blame for the most deaths, involved in 19% of fatal cases. Many were linked to listeria and salmonella infections. Together, meat and poultry were to blame for 22% of illnesses and 29% of deaths.
The Power of a Healthy, Wise Choice
The above is not meant to scare you, but to empower you with information.
Once you know both sides of an argument, you can make an informed choice.
As I’m blogging this on February 8th, many are snuggled in and hopefully staying safe due the predictions of up to 30” of snow from Winter Storm Nemo.
I watch my niece embrace the joy and wonder from the change of an outdoor adventure to the playground or an in-house ballerina concert with snowflakes as her audience of fairies; and I’m reminded of the ease of innocence of a child.
We are all in a coexistence with nature and how our choices today effect our future generations.
Starting with the downstream effects of the radiation of Japan in 2011 to a natural disaster closer to home in Hurricane Irene, and the most recent hits by Storm Sandy, the ability to turn a blind eye to our relationship to the environment is becoming impossible.
So what does this connection between buying organic foods have on the impact of our health…and our children’s?
A lot.
Sources:
Kathleen Doheny. Most Common Foods for Foodborne Illness: CDC Report. WebMD Health News. Jan 30, 2013. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/778455?src=wnl_edit_medn_wir&spon=34
Lower Prevalence of Antibiotic-Resistant Enterococci on U.S. Conventional Poultry Farms that Transitioned to Organic Practices. Amy R. Sapkota, R. Michael Hulet, Guangyu Zhang, Patrick McDermott, Erinna L. Kinney, Kellogg J. Schwab, Sam W. Joseph. Environ Health Perspect. 2011 November; 119(11): 1622-1628. Published online 2011 August 10. doi: 10.1289/ehp.1003350. PMCID: PMC3226496
CBS News. Consumer Reports scrutinizes antibiotic use in food production. June 20, 2012. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505270_162-57456784/consumer-reports-scrutinizes-antibiotic-use-in-food-production/
https://dr-lobisco.com/putting-our-childrens-future-first-the-environmental-impacts-on-development/
https://dr-lobisco.com/the-after-effects-of-japan/
