Nutritive and health-promoting value of organic vegetables (original) (raw)
Related papers
Organic Farming as a System to Provide Better Vegetable Quality
Acta Horticulturae, 2003
Organic farming is commonly regarded as a system improving vegetable quality. The aim of work was to analyse the effects of the organic methods on the vegetable quality during its production and storage on the way to the consumer. Therefore the nutritive, sensory and storage quality of carrots and potatoes from organic farms has been compared to the crops quality from conventional farms. It was found that organic vegetables had lower yields, but most of their nutritive, sensory and storage quality attributes were better than in the conventional crops. It should be emphasised that lower level of nitrates and simultaneously higher content of vitamin C in organic potatoes can have an important anti-carcinogenic impact on human organism. Organic vegetables more readily comply with food requirements for infants and small babies and should be recommended for baby foods. Organic farming can be considered as a system providing good conditions to improve the vegetable quality. Nevertheless there are many possibilities to ameliorate the methods of cultivation and storage of organic crops to obtain better production and qualitative results.
Quality and nutritional value of vegetables from organic and conventional farming
Scientia Horticulturae, 2013
Consumers demand for healthier food and governments' policies for environmental sustainability of agricultural processes are increasingly promoting a rapid expansion of organic farming. Nevertheless, the link between organic products and their enhanced nutritional/environmental values is far from being fully understood. In this context, we have begun to assess the effect of cultivation variables that may interact with farming systems and ultimately affect the final product quality. By comparing the response to conventional vs. organic farming of cauliflower, endive and zucchini here we demonstrate that the overall quality of organic products depends on many interacting variables. In cauliflower, the cultivar effect overwhelms other quality determinants with respect to antioxidant activity and nitrate accumulation. In endive, the liposoluble antioxidant activity increases under organic cultivation only in the absence of mulching. Finally, organic farming promotes the accumulation of K in zucchini grown on clay but not on sandy soil. Therefore, understanding the functional links between cultivation variables and physiological responses is essential to improve and standardize the quality of organic products.
Organic horticulture is generally accepted as friendly to the environment, good for crop quality and also for the consumer’s health. Recent research data has shown that organic crops under organic farming practices contained more bioactive substances such as flavones, vitamin C, carotenoids; they also contain less pesticides residues, nitrates and nitrites. Five tomato cultivars: four large – fruit (Rumba, Juhas, Kmicic, Gigant) and one cherry cultivar (Koralik) were selected for study. The organic tomato fruits contained more dry matter, total and reducing sugars, vitamin C, total flavones and beta-carotene, but less lycopene in comparison to conventionally grown tomatoes.
African Journal of Biotechnology, 2016
The objective of this research was to compare the physical and chemical characteristics and antioxidant activity of organic and conventional carrot (Daucus carota), green pepper (Capsicum annuum) and lettuce (Lactuca sativa). Five representative samples of conventional vegetables, certified organic and non-certified organic vegetables were gotten from farms and supermarkets in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The result shows that the organic carrot showed higher acidity (0.11 g % citric acid) and total sugar (5.68 g %) than those found in standard samples and certified organic ones (p<0.05). Regarding the density analysis and total soluble solids, there was no statistical difference between carrots, green peppers and lettuce from all types (p>0.05). It was observed that the vitamin C levels in carrot samples levels had no significant difference between the different forms of production (p>0.05). Conventional lettuce and certified organic pepper showed higher vitamin C than the other samples (p<0.05). The antioxidant activity of the samples was analysed by the capacity to reduce the DPPH (1,1diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl) radical, in which carrot and conventional pepper showed lower antioxidant activity (p<0.05) when compared to organic samples. There were no significant differences among the different forms of production in the lettuce samples (p>0.05). Carrot and green pepper, with seal certification or not, showed higher capacity to reduce DPPH than the conventional ones, this suggests that the form of cultivation has a direct relationship with the nutritional values of the vegetables.
Invited review Review on the main differences between organic and conventional plant-based foods
The present review reports on the main characteristics and properties of plants cultivated following organic and conventional procedures, in the attempt to clarify give a deeper insight into some possible differences and to compare the two cultivation procedures. Here, we summarise research results regarding nutritional and safety properties of vegetable foods, evidencing qualitative differences observed between the two cultivation methods. It appears that the intake of organic foods leads to some advantages, such as the ingestion of a higher content of phenolic compounds and some vitamins, such as vitamin C, and a lower content of nitrates and pesticides. From literature, it appears that a special care should be taken about the ingestion of foods in relation to the content of some substances, e.g. polyamines, substances stimulating cellular division, because some foods coming from organic origin present a higher content of these compounds, which could explain some of the effect of the diet on patients affected by certain syndromes.
Review on the main differences between organic and conventional plant-based foods
International Journal of Food Science & Technology, 2011
The present review reports on the main characteristics and properties of plants cultivated following organic and conventional procedures, in the attempt to clarify give a deeper insight into some possible differences and to compare the two cultivation procedures. Here, we summarise research results regarding nutritional and safety properties of vegetable foods, evidencing qualitative differences observed between the two cultivation methods. It appears that the intake of organic foods leads to some advantages, such as the ingestion of a higher content of phenolic compounds and some vitamins, such as vitamin C, and a lower content of nitrates and pesticides. From literature, it appears that a special care should be taken about the ingestion of foods in relation to the content of some substances, e.g. polyamines, substances stimulating cellular division, because some foods coming from organic origin present a higher content of these compounds, which could explain some of the effect of the diet on patients affected by certain syndromes.
The aim of this 5 year investigation was to compare quality parameters of differently cultivated carrots of the same cultivar grown in the same region as well as to compare the relevance of different methods of analysis to differentiate between these products. The following quality tests were applied: • Sensory tests (all harvests) • Food preference tests with laboratory rats (all harvests) • Decomposition tests (all harvests) • P-value determination (all harvests) • Single-Photon-Counting (1999) • Chemical analysis of the main components (1998 and 1999) It could be shown that carrots (var. Tarvil) grown using an organic farming method were significantly preferred by humans and laboratory rats, lost significantly less dry matter during decomposition, had lower P-values, indicating better bioelectrical properties, revealed a significantly better capacity to store biophotons, but showed no conclusive differentiation concerning their main components. Holistic methods were well qualifie...
The consumption of organic foods has been increasing over the last decades and organic products are becoming more visible on the market. Consumers perceive that organic foods are of betterquality, more nutritious and healthier, and these perceptions are some of the main drivers of the organic market. Scientific research on organic foodstuffs is contradictory, and knowledge regardingthe effect of cultivation system on the nutritive value and the possible relationship with human health could be further explored. Although some systematic differences in the nutritional content,i.e. nitrogen, protein, vitamin C, phosphorous and phenolic compounds of plant products grown under different cultivation systems have been observed, it is a difficult task to prove the claim thatorganic food improves human well-being or health after consumption. The aim of this review is to give an overview of the research on nutritional quality of food, comparing conventional andorganic agriculture; i.e. the nut...
Organic agriculture: does it enhance or reduce the nutritional value of plant foods?
Journal of the Science of Food and …, 2001
The possible differences between organic and conventional plant products are examined from the view of possible effects on human health. It is concluded that nutritionally important differences relating to contents of minerals, vitamins, proteins and carbohydrates are not likely, primarily since none of these are de®cient in typical First World diets, nor are present levels of pesticide residues in conventional products a cause for concern. However, there is reason to believe that contents of many defence-related secondary metabolites in the diet are lower than optimal for human health, even for those where too high levels are known to be harmful. High biological activity resulting in adverse effects on growth of animals and children may be directly linked with promotion of longevity. There is ample, but circumstantial, evidence that, on average, organic vegetables and fruits most likely contain more of these compounds than conventional ones, allowing for the possibility that organic plant foods may in fact bene®t human health more than corresponding conventional ones. The authors de®ne testable scienti®c hypotheses which should be further investigated to provide more de®nitive answers to the question.
Consuming organic versus conventional vegetables: The effect on nutrient and contaminant intakes
2010
The health benefits of consuming organic compared to conventional foods are unclear. This study aimed at evaluating the nutrient and contaminant intake of adults through consumption of organic versus conventional vegetables, namely carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, spinach and potatoes. A probabilistic simulation approach was used for the intake assessment in two adult populations: (1) a representative sample of Belgians (n = 3245) and (2) a sample of Flemish organic and conventional consumers (n = 522). Although significant differences in nutrient and contaminant contents were previously found between organic and conventional vegetables, they were inconsistent for a component and/or vegetable. These findings were translated here into inconsistent intake assessments. This means that the intake of specific nutrients and contaminants can be higher or lower for organic versus conventional vegetables. However, when considering the consumption pattern of organic consumers, an increase in intake of a selected set of nutrients and contaminants is observed, which are explained by the general higher vegetable consumption of this consumer group. In public health terms, there is insufficient evidence to recommend organic over conventional vegetables. The general higher vegetable consumption of organic compared to conventional consumers outweighs usually the role of differences in nutrient and contaminant concentrations between organic and conventional vegetables.