Dive Brief:
- A new French study of 68,946 adults — 78% of them female — found those who frequently consumed organic food were 25% less likely to develop cancer than those who never ate it. The study was published online Oct. 22 in JAMA Internal Medicine.
- The NutriNet-Santé study found that those who ate more organic produce, dairy, meat and other products were 73% less likely to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma and 21% less likely to develop postmenopausal breast cancers. Participants with low-to-medium quality diets who ate organic food also experienced a reduced risk of cancer, the study found.
- The study volunteers were put into four groups based on how often they consumed 16 organic products — including fruits and vegetables, meat and fish, ready-to-eat meals, vegetable oils and condiments, dietary supplements and other products. The volunteers were followed for more than four years on average, CNN reported, during which they developed a total of 1,340 cancers. Breast cancer was the most common, followed by prostate cancer, skin cancer, colorectal cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Dive Insight:
Consumers of organic foods and beverages often feel sure they are getting health benefits from the additional quality and cost of the products. But other than evidence that organic food has more antioxidants and less pesticide residue and that organic agriculture is better for the soil, there hasn't been much scientific evidence that an organic diet might improve health risks.
However, this study might not be the most reliable. A 2014 U.K. study of 623,080 middle-aged women found there was little or no decrease in the incidence of cancer associated with organic food consumption, except possibly non-Hodgkin lymphoma. This larger group of women was followed for more than nine years, so the results could be considered more dependable than this new French research.
Besides the main findings, there were other interesting aspects to the French study that may affect consumer perception of the organic industry, like the seemingly decreased cancer risk for organic consumers who did not eat a healthy diet. Researchers speculated that one explanation for the link between organic food and cancer risk stems from a lower level of contamination from organic foods compared to conventional ones.
"If the findings are confirmed, promoting organic food consumption in the general population could be a promising preventive strategy against cancer," Julia Baudry, an epidemiologist and lead author of the study, wrote with her colleagues. However, she emphasized the study doesn't prove an organic diet reduces cancers — only that it strongly suggests it could contribute to reducing cancer risk, The New York Times reported.
But there were other drawbacks in the study. CNN noted Jorge E. Chavarro, an associate professor in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health, co-authored a commentary published with it. Chavarro was not involved in the study.
He said assessing the intake of organic foods is "notoriously difficult" because the reasons a person chooses to eat them or not has "very strong social and economic determinants." However, while the study authors had information about why people opt out of consuming organic foods, Chavarro said they "consider all non-consumers of organic foods the same." That means someone who can afford organic foods but chooses not to eat them may have a generally poor attitude toward their health, which might influence the study results.
Despite the study's perceived flaws, chances are the organic industry will focus on the findings as proof that organic foods are healthier than conventional ones. Conventional producers are likely to bring up any study shortcomings and stress that eating fresh produce is a healthy habit, whether the produce is organic or not.
Regardless of how the French study results are interpreted, growth in the organic sector isn't expected to slow down anytime soon. According to a recent TechSci Research report, the global organic food market is projected to increase at a CAGR of more than 14% between 2016 and 2021.
According to the latest Organic Trade Association industry survey, sales of organic food grew 6.4% last year to a record $45.2 billion, and organic products made up 5.5% of the total retail food market in the U.S. While that 6.4% increase was less than the 9% growth rate in 2016, OTA noted it outpaced the 1.1% growth posted last year by the total U.S. food market.