More nutrients, better weight

March 27, 2015 7:09 PM

What if we told you that among the many benefits of organic foods, you can actually lose some weight?

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We usually get that "I'm so healthy", reassuring feeling whenever we take a bite of our favourite fruit. Emphasis on the word 'favourite'. As much as we know that fruits are very nutritious, we seem to only go for the fruits we like, not a variety of them.

What if we told you that among the many benefits of organic foods, you can actually lose some weight?

While experts have debated for years that organic foods really are more nutritious than their conventionally raised counterparts, last year a British Journal of Nutrition review of 343 studies concluded that on average, organic foods (both crops and packaged foods derived from those crops, like bread) contain higher concentrations of antioxidants than conventionally grown foods.

This is because, while an organic apple and a conventionally grown apple may both contain the same number of vitamins and antioxidants, the organic apple is much smaller, meaning that it contains more of them per ounce, says study co-author Charles Benbrook, a research professor at Washington State University's Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Of course you are wondering about the size difference. The weird part is that the reason may just be that organic, nitrogen-rich fertilizer are so expensive, meaning that organic farmers can’t typically afford to over-fertilize their crops to the same extent that conventional farmers can, Benbrook says.

And considering the fact that nitrogen is to plants what calories are to people, when conventional plants get too much nitrogen, they do the same thing we do: They get big.

However, their nutritional properties, like our muscles, don’t grow with them.

Some research found in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that flavonols, one of these beneficial plant compounds, may stabilize blood sugar levels, helping to keep appetite in check, while another such compound, resveratrol, has been shown to promote fullness.

Some pesticides used in conventional farming, however, may reduce the level of resveratrol in plants.

Still, just because an apple is organic doesn’t guarantee the farmer hasn’t piled on the nitrogen, thereby reducing its antioxidant concentrations while increasing its calories, Benbrook says.