Is Organic Food Better? HWA & Health

Organic foods have been in the news lately. Here are a couple of reports:

September 10, 2012

Recently, a study conducted by Stanford University analyzed over 230 field studies and 17 human studies that had previously been conducted in the United States and Europe…

The study determined that “consumers can markedly reduce their intake of pesticide residues and their exposure to antibiotic-resistant bacteria by choosing organic produce and meat.”

On the other hand, the researchers of the study did not find a significant difference in nutritional makeup between organic and conventional foods. The study lacked “strong evidence that organic foods are significantly more nutritious than conventional foods.”

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) noted that the Stanford study “did not directly address the important environmental and public health benefits that result from reduced pesticide and antibiotic use. Synthetic pesticides can kill insect pollinators, harm wildlife and farmworkers and often end up in the air and water.” http://madison-ct.patch.com/articles/is-eating-organic-better-9677795c

September 9, 2012

“Stanford Scientists Cast Doubt on Advantages of Organic Meat and Produce” (news article, Sept. 4) says organic meat contained considerably lower levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria than conventionally raised animals, “but bacteria, antibiotic-resistant or otherwise, would be killed during cooking.”

But if this were true, we would not have had 136 illnesses and one death from antibiotic-resistant salmonella in ground turkey last year, or an estimated tens of millions of food-borne illnesses every year. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/10/opinion/fewer-pesticides-make-organic-the-safer-choice.html

I intentionally did not report the Stanford study when it came out a few days ago for many reasons, including parts of its conclusions, as I felt addressing some of the specifics might make more sense, as some others have tried to do. Before going further, let me state that it has been alleged that because of money Stanford gets from Monsanto, parts of the study were biased against organic foods (see a Youtube titled Stanford’s Monsanto Ties Cast Doubt on Organic Food Study). Monsanto is a big producer of GMOs (genetically-modified organisms) in the “food” supply, as well as a variety of farm chemicals. Essentially, via GMOs, Monsanto is big behind producing “food items” that God did not directly create. I consider that the U.S.A. (and others) are risking famine by relying more and more on genetically-engineered “foods.”

The Organic Consumers Association lists the following ten reasons (which I have truncated here, with more information at http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_23801.cfm) why it feels that organic foods are better:

1. Organic foods are produced without the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)…

2. Organic foods are safe and pure. Organic farming prohibits the use of toxic pesticides, antibiotics, growth hormones, nano-particles, and climate-destabilizing chemical fertilizers…

3. Organic foods and farming are climate-friendly…

4. Organic food certification prohibits nuclear irradiation. Consumers are justifiably alarmed about irradiating food with nuclear waste or electron beams, which destroy vitamins and nutrients and produce cancer-causing chemicals such as benzene and formaldehyde…

5. Consumers worry about rampant e-coli, salmonella, campylobacter, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and fecal contamination in animal products coming out of the nation’s inhumane and filthy slaughterhouses…

6. Consumers are concerned about billions of pounds of toxic municipal sewage sludge dumped as “fertilizer” on 140,000 of America’s chemical farms…

7. Consumers worry about the routine practice of grinding up slaughterhouse waste and feeding this offal and blood back to other animals, a practice that has given rise to a form of human mad-cow disease called CJD, often misdiagnosed as Alzheimer’s disease…

8. Consumers care about the humane treatment of animals…

9. Consumers are concerned about purchasing foods with high nutritional value…

10. Consumers care about preserving America’s family farms, world hunger, and the plight of the world’s two billion small farmers.

In the last century, prior to the introduction of GMO “foods”, the late Herbert W. Armstrong wrote:

And so man IS just what he eats. Some of the most famous physicians and surgeons have said that 90% to 95% of all sickness and disease comes from faulty diet!

Most people are in utter ignorance of the fact that it does make a difference what we eat! Most people, and the customs of society, have followed a regimen of eating whatever tastes good to the palate.

Adults are babies grown up. Observe a nine-month-old baby. Everything that comes into his hands goes to his mouth!

My youngest brother may not like to read this in print, but I remember when he was about nine months old, and had managed to creep into the basement coal bin. We found him trying to eat little chunks of coal—his mouth and face well blackened!

You may laugh at babies trying to eat silver cups and chunks of coal. Or at people who dip small mice into a sauce, and, holding them by their tails, drop them as a delicious delicacy into their mouths.

If you do, they will laugh back at you. They will tell you that mice eat clean grain and clean foods, while you dip slimy, slithery oysters and other scavenger seafoods into cocktail sauces, and consider them a delicacy!

You think adults have actually LEARNED any better than nine-month-olds babies? Go to your fancy grocer’s and you’ll find on his shelves canned eel and canned rattlesnake.

WHY? As I said, humans know nothing at birth! We have to learn! But most of us do not know that! And, again, what we don’t know, we don’t know that we don’t know! And somehow, ever since babyhood, most humans seem to have grown up putting everything into the mouth. Most have grown up eating just whatever seemed to taste good—and whatever they saw others eating. There has been little education or even study about WHAT we ought—or ought NOT—to eat.

Most degenerative diseases are modern diseases—penalties for eating foods that have been demineralized in food factories—usually an excess of starch, sugar (the carbohydrates) and fats. Others are caused by a type of malnutrition—lack of needed minerals and vitamins in foods. Then people try to put the “vitamins” back into their systems by buying pills at the drugstore! (More on this can be found in the article HWA: Third Law of Success: Good Health.)

Here are a few scriptures about food, including animals, from the Hebrew scriptures (often called the Old Testament):

4 He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, And vegetation for the service of man, That he may bring forth food from the earth, 15 And wine that makes glad the heart of man, Oil to make his face shine, And bread which strengthens man’s heart. (Psalms 104:14-15)

10 A righteous man regards the life of his animal, But the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. (Proverbs 12:10)

27 You shall have enough goats’ milk for your food, For the food of your household, And the nourishment of your maidservants. (Proverbs 27:27)

2 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘These are the animals which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth: 3 Among the animals, whatever divides the hoof, having cloven hooves and chewing the cud — that you may eat. 4 Nevertheless these you shall not eat among those that chew the cud or those that have cloven hooves: the camel, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; 5 the rock hyrax, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; 6 the hare, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; 7 and the swine, though it divides the hoof, having cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. 8 Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. They are unclean to you. 9 ‘These you may eat of all that are in the water: whatever in the water has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers — that you may eat. 10 But all in the seas or in the rivers that do not have fins and scales, all that move in the water or any living thing which is in the water, they are an abomination to you. 11 They shall be an abomination to you; you shall not eat their flesh, but you shall regard their carcasses as an abomination. 12 Whatever in the water does not have fins or scales — that shall be an abomination to you. 13 ‘And these you shall regard as an abomination among the birds; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard, 14 the kite, and the falcon after its kind; 15 every raven after its kind, 16 the ostrich, the short-eared owl, the sea gull, and the hawk after its kind; 17 the little owl, the fisher owl, and the screech owl; 18 the white owl, the jackdaw, and the carrion vulture; 19 the stork, the heron after its kind, the hoopoe, and the bat. 20 ‘All flying insects that creep on all fours shall be an abomination to you. 21 Yet these you may eat of every flying insect that creeps on all fours: those which have jointed legs above their feet with which to leap on the earth. 22 These you may eat: the locust after its kind, the destroying locust after its kind, the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind. 23 But all other flying insects which have four feet shall be an abomination to you. (Leviticus 11:2-23)

Basically the Bible advocates eating real food (it does not consider unclean meats to be food) and not too much of it.

While overeating and obesity are major problems in the Anglo-lands and many other nations, the fact is that the overwhelming majority of Westerners do not consume the recommended minimum of two servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables per day. And much of the “food” is actually eaten is highly processed with a variety of chemicals that humans never used to eat. Something to think about.

Some articles of possibly related interest may include:

The Seven Laws of Success Booklet by Herbert W. Armstrong that can help people become successful. And the third “law” has to do with health.
The New Testament Church and Unclean Meats Are foods considered to have been unclean in the Old Testament considered to be food in the New Testament? This article discusses this from the perspective of the New Testament. It also has a list of clean and unclean animals. It also answers the question, is pork healthy or is pork dangerous?
Spiritual Benefits of Fasting Jesus said, “But by Prayer and Fasting” and this article by Dr. Meredith focuses on fasting and provides his physical and spiritual fasting tips. Does fasting help prevent heart disease?
Obesity and Prophecy Does the Bible warn about the consequences of being obese? Is overeating dangerous?
What is the Meaning of Life? Who does God say is happy? What is your ultimate destiny? Do you really know? Does God actually have a plan for YOU personally?
The Bible: Fact or Fiction? This is a booklet written by Douglas Winnail that answers if the Bible is just a collection of myths and legends or the inspired word of God.
Read the Bible Christians should read and study the Bible. This article gives some rationale for regular bible reading.