Feeding trials in organic food quality and health research

Growth performance, biochemical and haematological parameters of BALB/c mice fed on staple grains and bee larvae (Apis Mellifera) blended complementary foods

In Sub-Saharan Africa, inadequate complementary feeding practices and being nutritionally inadequate are primary factors in infant and young child malnutrition, growth failure, and high morbidity and mortality. Therefore, novel complementary foods need to be developed to alleviate malnutrition problems in IYC. Therefore, this experimental study aimed to assess the effects of newly developed grain-bee larvae blended complementary foods on the growth performance, haematological, and biochemical parameters of BALB/c mice. A complete randomized design was used and a total of 75 BALB/c mice were assigned to each of the five treatments. The treatments were: T1 = Casein diet; T2 = 57 % Maize, 29 % Teff, 14 % Soybean; T3 = 58 % Maize, 29 % Teff, 13 % Bee larvae; T4 = Commercial wean mix; and T5 = Basal diet alone. The in vivo experiment trial was done for 28 days along with seven days of adaptation. Dietary intake was not significantly different (P = 0.96) between treatments, but it was noted that T3 had gained the highest final body weight (38.52 g). The examined biochemical parameters showed T4 had the lowest serum protein (6.27 mg/dl) and globulin (3.61 mg/dl). Compared to others, T3 significantly (P < 0.001) increased WBC (4 × 10⁶ mm³), RBC (11.37 × 10³ mm³), Haemoglobin (16.42 g/dl), and Hematocrit (63.04 %). The highest serum levels of zinc (0.55 mg/dl) and iron (2.08 mg/dl) were reported on T2, while the highest serum calcium content (10.64 mg/dl) was reported on T1. The results indicated that T3 can aid body growth, health, and prevent malnutrition in infants and young children.

Bioactive Compounds and Total Sugar Contents of Different Open-Pollinated Beetroot Genotypes Grown Organically

The growing interest of consumers in healthy organic products has increased the attention to the organic production of beetroot. In this regard, six field experiments were conducted in 2017 and 2018 in three different locations under the specific conditions of organic agriculture, and fifteen beetroot genotypes, including one F1 hybrid as a commercial control and one breeding line, were compared regarding the content of the total dry matter, total soluble sugar, nitrate, betalain, and total phenolic compounds in order to investigate the genetic potential of new and existing open-pollinated genotypes of beetroot regarding the content of their bioactive compounds. The results of this study indicated a significant impact of genotype (p < 0.05) on all measured compounds. Furthermore, results revealed a significant influence of the interactions of location × year (p < 0.05) on the beetroot composition, and, thus, the role of environmental conditions for the formation of tested compounds. The total dry matter content (TDMC) of beetroots varied between 14.12% and 17.50%. The genotype ‘Nochowski’, which possessed the highest total soluble sugar content with 14.67 °Bx (Brix), was among the genotypes with the lowest nitrate content. On the contrary, the cylindrical-shaped genotype ‘Carillon RZ’ (Rijk Zwaan), indicated the lowest sugar content and the highest nitrate concentration. The amount of total phenolic compounds ranged between 352.46 ± 28.24 mg GAE 100 g⁻¹ DW (milligrams of gallic acid equivalents per 100 g of dry weight) and 489.06 ± 28.24 mg GAE 100 g⁻¹ DW for the red-colored genotypes which is correlated with the high antioxidant capacity of the investigated genotypes. Due to the specifics of the required content of bioactive compounds for various products, the selection of suitable genotypes should be aligned with the intended final utilization.

Organic food and the impact on human health

In the last decade, the production and consumption of organic food have increased steadily worldwide, despite the lower productivity of organic crops. Indeed, the population attributes healthier properties to organic food. Although scientific evidence is still scarce, organic agriculture seems to contribute to maintaining an optimal health status and decreases the risk of developing chronic diseases. This may be due to the higher content of bioactive compounds and lower content of unhealthy substances such as cadmium and synthetic fertilizers and pesticides in organic foods of plant origin compared to conventional agricultural products. Thus, large long-term intervention studies are needed to determine whether an organic diet is healthier than a diet including conventionally grown food products. This review provides an update of the present knowledge of the impact of an organic versus a conventional food diet on health.

Human health implications of organic food and organic agriculture: a comprehensive review

This review summarises existing evidence on the impact of organic food on human health. It compares organic vs. conventional food production with respect to parameters important to human health and discusses the potential impact of organic management practices with an emphasis on EU conditions. Organic food consumption may reduce the risk of allergic disease and of overweight and obesity, but the evidence is not conclusive due to likely residual confounding, as consumers of organic food tend to have healthier lifestyles overall. However, animal experiments suggest that identically composed feed from organic or conventional production impacts in different ways on growth and development. In organic agriculture, the use of pesticides is restricted, while residues in conventional fruits and vegetables constitute the main source of human pesticide exposures. Epidemiological studies have reported adverse effects of certain pesticides on children's cognitive development at current levels of exposure, but these data have so far not been applied in formal risk assessments of individual pesticides. Differences in the composition between organic and conventional crops are limited, such as a modestly higher content of phenolic compounds in organic fruit and vegetables, and likely also a lower content of cadmium in organic cereal crops. Organic dairy products, and perhaps also meats, have a higher content of omega-3 fatty acids compared to conventional products. However, these differences are likely of marginal nutritional significance. Of greater concern is the prevalent use of antibiotics in conventional animal production as a key driver of antibiotic resistance in society; antibiotic use is less intensive in organic production. Overall, this review emphasises several documented and likely human health benefits associated with organic food production, and application of such production methods is likely to be beneficial within conventional agriculture, e.g., in integrated pest management.

Effects of organic food consumption on human health; the jury is still out!

The most recent systematic literature reviews and meta-analyses have indicated significant and nutritionally-relevant composition differences between organic and conventional foods. This included higher antioxidant, but lower cadmium and pesticide levels in organic crops, and higher omega-3 fatty acids concentrations in organic meat and dairy products. Also, results from a small number of human cohort studies indicate that there are positive associations between organic food consumption and reduced risk/incidence of certain acute diseases (e.g. pre-eclampsia, hypospadias) and obesity. Concerns about potential negative health impacts of organic food consumption (e.g. risks linked to lower iodine levels in organic milk) have also been raised, but are not currently supported by evidence from human cohort studies. However, there is virtually no published data from (1) long-term cohort studies focusing on chronic diseases (e.g. cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and neurodegenerative conditions) and (2) controlled human dietary intervention studies comparing effects of organic and conventional diets. It is therefore currently not possible to quantify to what extent organic food consumption may affect human health.

Contribution of organically grown crops to human health

An increasing interest in organic agriculture for food production is seen throughout the world and one key reason for this interest is the assumption that organic food consumption is beneficial to public health. The present paper focuses on the background of organic agriculture, important public health related compounds from crop food and variations in the amount of health related compounds in crops. In addition, influence of organic farming on health related compounds, on pesticide residues and heavy metals in crops, and relations between organic food and health biomarkers as well as in vitro studies are also the focus of the present paper. Nutritionally beneficial compounds of highest relevance for public health were micronutrients, especially Fe and Zn, and bioactive compounds such as carotenoids (including pro-vitamin A compounds), tocopherols (including vitamin E) and phenolic compounds. Extremely large variations in the contents of these compounds were seen, depending on genotype, climate, environment, farming conditions, harvest time, and part of the crop. Highest amounts seen were related to the choice of genotype and were also increased by genetic modification of the crop. Organic cultivation did not influence the content of most of the nutritional beneficial compounds, except the phenolic compounds that were increased with the amounts of pathogens. However, higher amounts of pesticide residues and in many cases also of heavy metals were seen in the conventionally produced crops compared to the organic ones. Animal studies as well as in vitro studies showed a clear indication of a beneficial effect of organic food/extracts as compared to conventional ones. Thus, consumption of organic food seems to be positive from a public health point of view, although the reasons are unclear, and synergistic effects between various constituents within the food are likely.

Effect of maternal intake of organically or conventionally produced feed on oral tolerance development in offspring rats

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of maternal consumption of organically or conventionally produced feed on immunological biomarkers and their offsprings' response to a novel dietary antigen. First-generation rats were fed plant-based diets from two different cultivation systems (organic or conventional) or a chow. Second-generation rats were exposed to ovalbumin (OVA) via their mother's milk and subsequently challenged with OVA after weaning onto the chow diet. In the chow diet group feeding the dams OVA resulted in suppression of the pups' anti-OVA antibody response to the OVA challenge (total OVA-specific IgG was 197 for the OVA-treated chow diet group and 823 for the control chow diet group (arbitrary ELISA units)). In contrast, OVA exposure of the dams from the plant-based dietary groups did not result in a similar suppression. Cultivation system had no effect on the immunological biomarkers, except for a higher spleen prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) concentration in pups originating from dams fed the conventional plant-based diet (223 ng/L) than from those fed the organic plant-based diet (189 ng/L).

Effect of crop protection and fertilization regimes used in organic and conventional production systems on feed composition and physiological parameters in rats

Very little is known about the effects of an organic or conventional diet on animal physiology and health. Here, we report the effect of contrasting crop protection (with or without chemosynthetic pesticides) and fertilization (manure or mineral fertilizers) regimes on feed composition and growth and the physiological parameters of rats. The use of manure instead of mineral fertilizers in feed production resulted in lower concentrations of protein (18.8 vs 20.6%) and cadmium (3.33 vs 4.92 μg/100 g) but higher concentrations of polyphenols (1.46 vs 0.89 g/100 g) in feeds and higher body protein (22.0 vs 21.5%), body ash (3.59 vs 3.51%), white blood cell count (10.86 vs 8.19 × 10³/mm³), plasma glucose (7.23 vs 6.22 mmol/L), leptin (3.56 vs 2.78 ng/mL), insulin-like growth factor 1 (1.87 vs 1.28 μg/mL), corticosterone (247 vs 209 ng/mL), and spontaneous lymphocyte proliferation (11.14 vs 5.03 × 10³ cpm) but lower plasma testosterone (1.07 vs 1.97 ng/mL) and mitogen stimulated proliferation of lymphocytes (182 vs 278 × 10³ cpm) in rats. There were no main effects of crop protection, but a range of significant interactions between fertilization and crop protection occurred.

Health biomarkers in a rat model after intake of organically grown carrots

BACKGROUND

Organic food is perceived as being of better quality and healthier than conventional foods although the scientific research on organic foodstuffs is highly contradictory. The aim of the present study was to investigate if intake of carrots from four different cultivation systems grown in two consecutive years would influence various biomarkers of health in a rat model. All rats were fed a diet with 40% carrot content. The carrots were grown under conventional (C), 'minimalistic' organic (O1), organic (O2), or 'very' organic cultivation systems (O3). A control group (CO) being fed standard rat chow was included.

RESULTS

The plasma α-tocopherol concentration was higher in the O2 carrot-based diet group than in the C carrot based-diet group in one year, while all other health biomarkers or nutrient content differences were observed between the CO diet and the carrot-based diets.

CONCLUSION

This well-controlled field study demonstrated no clear influence of cultivation methods or harvest year on the nutritional quality of carrots or effect of cultivation methods on health-related biomarkers in a sensitive rat model. However, the experimental set-up and selected biomarkers could be used as a framework for further studies of health in relation to organic foodstuff.

The challenge of evaluating health effects of organic food; operationalisation of a dynamic concept of health

The health benefits of consuming organically produced foods compared with conventional foods are unclear. Important obstacles to drawing clear conclusions in this field of research are (1) the lack of a clear operational definition of health and (2) the inability to distinguish between different levels of health using valid biomarkers. In this paper, some shortcomings of the current definition of health are outlined and the relevance of integrating a more dynamic and functional component is emphasised, which is reflected by the ability to adapt. The state of health could then be determined by challenging an individual with some form of stressor and by subsequent quantification and evaluation of the coherence in recovery of various physiological processes and parameters. A set of relevant parameters includes the activity of the immune system and the activity of the autonomous nervous system. A good recovery towards homeostasis is suggested to reflect a qualitatively good state of health. Furthermore, it would enable objective evaluation of health-optimising strategies, including the consumption of organically produced foods that aim to strengthen health.

Sociodemographic characteristics and food habits of organic consumers – a study from the Danish National Birth Cohort

Objective

To develop a basis for building models that can examine the impact of organic food (OF) choices on maternal and offspring health, including identification of factors associated with OF consumption and underlying dietary patterns.

Design

Dietary intake was collected for the preceding month from an FFQ in mid-pregnancy and information on sociodemographic characteristics was collected from telephone interviews during pregnancy. From a question about OF consumption in the FFQ, including six food categories, an OF preference index was calculated. Latent variables that captured the variability in OF choices in relation to dietary intake were defined.

Setting

The Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC), 1996–2002.

Subjects

Pregnant women from DNBC (n 60 773).

Results

We found that frequent OF use was highly associated with age, occupational status, urbanization, smoking and vegetarianism. By principal components analysis we identified two eating patterns, a ‘Western dietary pattern’ and a ‘Prudent dietary pattern’, that explained 14·2 % of the variability in data. Frequent OF users consumed a more ‘prudent’ diet compared with non-users and had significantly higher intakes of vegetables (+67 %), fibre (+13 %) and n-3 fatty acids (+11 %) and less saturated fat (−8 %).

Conclusions

Frequent OF users seemed to have a healthier lifestyle than non-users. These findings highlight a major challenge in observational studies examining the impact of OF consumption on health due to potentially irremediable confounding factors.

Can agricultural cultivation methods influence the healthfulness of crops for foods?

The aim of the current study was to investigate if there are any health effects of long-term consumption of organically grown crops using a rat model. Crops were retrieved over two years from a long-term field trial at three different locations in Denmark, using three different cultivation systems (OA, organic based on livestock manure; OB, organic based on green manure; and C, conventional with mineral fertilizers and pesticides) with two field replicates. The cultivation system had an impact on the nutritional quality, affecting γ-tocopherol, some amino acids, and fatty acid composition. Additionally, the nutritional quality was affected by harvest year and location. However, harvest year and location rather than cultivation system affected the measured health biomarkers. In conclusion, the differences in dietary treatments composed of ingredients from different cultivation systems did not lead to significant differences in the measured health biomarkers, except for a significant difference in plasma IgG levels.

Influence of industrial and alternative farming systems on contents of sugars, organic acids, total phenolic content, and the antioxidant activity of red beet (Beta vulgaris L. ssp. vulgaris Rote Kugel)

The contents of sugars, organic acids, total phenolic content, and the antioxidant activity were quantified in the flesh of red beet from conventional (CON), integrated (INT), organic (ORG), biodynamic (BD), and control farming systems using established methods. Significant differences were measured for malic acid, total phenolic content (TPC), and total antioxidant activity, where malic acid content ranged from 2.39 g kg(-1) FW (control) to 1.63 g kg(-1) FW (CON, ORG, and INT). The highest TPC was measured in BD and control samples (0.677 and 0.672 mg GAE g(-1), respectively), and the lowest in CON samples (0.511 mg GAE g(-1)). Antioxidant activity was positively correlated with TPC (r2=0.6187) and ranged from 0.823 μM TE g(-1) FW to 1.270 μM TE g(-1) FW in CON and BD samples, respectively, whereas total sugar content ranged from 21.03 g kg(-1) FW (CON) to 31.58 g kg(-1) FW (BD). The importance of sugars, organic acids, phenols, and antioxidants for human health, as well as for plant resilience and health, gained from this explorative study, is discussed and put into perspective.

Nutrition-related health effects of organic foods: a systematic review

BACKGROUND

There is uncertainty over the nutrition-related benefits to health of consuming organic foods.

OBJECTIVE

We sought to assess the strength of evidence that nutrition-related health benefits could be attributed to the consumption of foods produced under organic farming methods.

DESIGN

We systematically searched PubMed, ISI Web of Science, CAB Abstracts, and Embase between 1 January 1958 and 15 September 2008 (and updated until 10 March 2010); contacted subject experts; and hand-searched bibliographies. We included peer-reviewed articles with English abstracts if they reported a comparison of health outcomes that resulted from consumption of or exposure to organic compared with conventionally produced foodstuffs.

RESULTS

From a total of 98,727 articles, we identified 12 relevant studies. A variety of different study designs were used; there were 8 reports (67%) of human studies, including 6 clinical trials, 1 cohort study, and 1 cross-sectional study, and 4 reports (33%) of studies in animals or human cell lines or serum. The results of the largest study suggested an association of reported consumption of strictly organic dairy products with a reduced risk of eczema in infants, but the majority of the remaining studies showed no evidence of differences in nutrition-related health outcomes that result from exposure to organic or conventionally produced foodstuffs. Given the paucity of available data, the heterogeneity of study designs used, exposures tested, and health outcomes investigated, no quantitative meta-analysis was justified.

CONCLUSION

From a systematic review of the currently available published literature, evidence is lacking for nutrition-related health effects that result from the consumption of organically produced foodstuffs.