Organic vs. Conventional Food Production

Our podcast this week is with Professor Carlo Leifert, who  is one of the world leaders in organic farming research, food production systems, and sustainable farming and food security.  Using a unique, new intervention study design, an international team of experts led by Professor Carlo Leifert (Southern Cross University, Australia; University of Oslo, Norway) and Professor Chris Seal (Newcastle University, UK) compared the effect of a healthy diet (Mediterranean type) with a habitual Western diet and they also compared the effect of conventionally produced foods with organic food on intake of pesticides, a group of environmental pollutants with known negative health effects. The study's main finding was that switching from a “Western” to a Mediterranean diet with high fruit and vegetable consumption resulted in more than 3-times higher total insecticide and organophosphate intake. Listen in to find out more.