The answer is yes, it protects the health, according to a scientific research published a few weeks ago in the prestigious journal JAMA Internal Medicine by a French team of the Centre de Recherche Epidémiologie et Statistique Sorbonne Paris Cité (Baudry et al).
The scientists started from the conclusions of a previous research (Bradman et al, Environ Health Perspect, Oct 2015) that observed that switching from consuming conventionally grown foods to organic foods decreases the urinary concentration of pesticides and their derivatives.The importance of this consideration can be understood if we consider that IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer,) classified as carcinogenic to humans three pesticides mainly used in agriculture, glyphosate, malathion, and diazinon and that in the United states the 90% of population show detectable pesticides in urine. For this reason, understanding how organic foods affect health in respect than conventionally grown foods is essential. The study analyzed the habits of about 70 000 French people for a period of 5 years and has observed that the people with the highest frequency of organic food consumption had a 25% lower risk of developing a breast cancer, for women, and lymphomas, for all people. The release of this article is causing several debates and discussions and it is clear that other studies should be performed in order to confirm these conclusions, but what is certain is that this research has given a very important result that makes us think about what we eat and the beneficial, or not, consequences that food may have on health.
