ORGANIC FOOD ANDHUMAN HEALTH

Prof. Ewa RembiałkowskaDivision of Organic FoodstuffsWarsaw University of Life Sciences - SGGWE-mail: ewa_rembialkowska@sggw.pl

ORGANICFOOD

LESSANTIBIOTICS

LESS GROWTHREGULATORS

LESS PESTICIDERESIDUES

LESS SYNTHETICFOOD ADDITIVES

MOREVITAMIN C

MORE PHENOLICCOMPOUNDS

MORE ESSENTIALFATTY ACIDS

MORE MINERALCOMPOUNDS

LESSNITRATES

POSITIVE IMPACTON ANIMALS’

FERTILITY

MOREDRY MASS

Relation betweenORGANIC DIET

andHUMAN HEALTH

SOME STUDIES…

1. Atopy in children of families with an anthroposophic lifestyle (Almet al. 1999)

2. Influence of biodynamic nutrition on immunological parametersand well-being of postmenopausal women („convent-study”)(Fuchs et al., 2003)

3. Different aspects of organic and conventional food consumers’lifestyle (Rembialkowska et al., 2008)

4. Allergic disease and sensitization in Steiner school children(Flöistrup et al. 2006)

5. Consumption of organic foods and risk of atopic disease during thefirst 2 years of life in the Netherlands (Kummeling et al. 2007)

6. Influence of organic diet on the amount of conjugated linoleicacids in breast milk of lactating women in the Netherlands (Rist etal. 2007)

Atopy in children of familieswith an anthroposophic lifestyle

(Alm et al. 1999)

CHARACTERISTIC OFANTHROPOSOPHIC NUTRITION

(Acc. to Rudolf Steiner)

• Food quality is very important.• Biodynamically produced foods are

preferred• Unprocessed food products are

recommended• It is important to eat regional and

seasonal products• Cereals of full value every day• High level of fruit and vegetables

consumption (it is recommended toeat leafy-, fruity- and rootvegetables every day)

• Raw food materials are importantpart of diet

• No potatoes

• Meat is consumed rarely or totallyexcluded

• No alcohol• Sugar is replaced with other

alternative sweeteners (honey)• Vitamin and mineral supplements

are avoided• Nutrition depends on individual

features, needs and temperaments• It is important to have the same

mealtimes every day• Positive atmosphere of meals is very

important• Nutrition is connected with human

consciousness development

Children from Steiner schools and reference schools -comparison of health parameters

(Alm et al. 1999)

2,1%72,2%6Positive result in ex 7016%529,2%25Positive result in fx527%9021%57Positive result in Phadiotop33%11024%65Positive results in general88%33492%271Number of tests

Blood analyses0,8%31,7%5D pteronyssinus and cladosporium2,4%90,7%2Food10%384,1%12Plant pollen9,0%346,2%18Animal allergies13%507,2%21Positive results in general99%37699%292Number of tests

Skin tests0,8%31,0%3Nettle-rash1,1%41,0%3Food allergy14%557,1%21Catarrhal allergy8,9%342,7%8Present skin allergy8,2%315,1%15Previous skin allergy17%655,8%17Bronchial asthma25%9613%39Together

%of children

Numberof cases

%of children

Numberof cases

Clinical symptoms380295Total number of children

REFERENCE SCHOOLSSTEINER SCHOOLS

• Anthroposophic diet based on biodynamic food products is akind of lactoovovegetarian diet and has probably manypositive health effects, decreasing the risk of circulatorysystem diseases, cancers, allergies and ostheoporosis

• Lifestyle related to anthroposophy can decrease the risk ofatopy in childhood: avoidance of antibiotics and antipyretics,very few vaccinations, organic/biodynamic diet, lots ofnaturally fermented vegetables in diet effecting in strongdevelopment of Lactobacillus plantarum in intestinalmicroflora

To summarize…

Influence of biodynamic nutrition onimmunological parameters andwell-being of postmenopausal

women („convent-study”)(Fuchs et al., 2003)

• PLACE OF THE STUDY:Monastery of Heiligenbronnin the Black Forest, Germany

• PARTICIPANTS:17 women (nuns) between 59and 80 years old (M = 69,4)

WHY NUNS?- The same - The same way

Environmental of lifeconditions

- Possibility of precise food intake control

It was possible to excludeimpact of these factors on the results

It was possible to make conclussions althoughthe number of participants was very small

Design of the study: 8 weeks3 PHASES:PHASE 1. 2 weeks; usually served frozen conventional meals were

replaced with freshly cooked conventional mealsPHASE 2. „BIODYNAMIC PHASE”- 4 weeks; biodynamically

produced food was served (85% of biodynamic food + 15% oforganic food)

PHASE 3. 2 weeks; conventional fresh food was served again

4 weeks 2 weeks 4 weeks 2 weeks 4 weeks

Daily diet survey

Pre-examination

Post -examination

Conventionaldiet

Biodynamic diet Conventionaldiet

Examinations, surveys

EXAMINATIONS• Each participant documented in a diet diary their daily

food intake: types of food and amounts

• Every two weeks they answered a survey about theirphysical and mental well-being. These surveysincluded questions to test their intelligence (mentalacuity) – they rated the effects of their nutrition on differentcharacteristics on a scale from 1 (very bad) to 5 (very good)

• Blood was drawn from each participant six times. Onthe same days they handed in stool samples.

RESULTS

During the biodynamic phaserespondents:

• Evaluated their physical fitness much better• Evaluated their spiritual well-being higher• Had better intellectual acuity• Had better ability to handle stress• Had less headaches

…They also liked the biodynamic food a lotbetter

Changes in spiritual well-beingin particular phases of the study

Physiological parameters

• Lower blood pressure

• Better immune status that seems to indicate lessstress (less T helper cells, more natural killer cells in blood)

…during the biodynamic phase

Changes in T helper cellsin particular phases of the study

Changes in blood pressure inparticular phases of the study

Changes of eating behaviour inbiodynamic phase

• Lower intake of protein (animal protein)

• Lower intake of carbohydrates

• Lower energy intake

• Higher intake of fibre (which confirms generallyobserved tendency of higher fibre intake in households converting toorganic products)

Caloric uptake of participants inparticular phases of the study

Different aspects of organic andconventional food consumers’ lifestyle

(Rembiałkowska et al., 2008)

Characteristic of the study

• Survey study

• Questionnaire survey covered200 women at the average age of42,3 years:

- 100 organic consumers- 100 conventional consumers

ORGANIC & CONVENTIONAL• Respondents were defined as “organic

consumers” if organic productsconstituted more than 25% of their dietfor at least half a year

• “conventional consumers” weredefined as women consumingconventional, market food

TIME OF‘EATING ORGANIC’

50More than 4 years182-4 years191-2 years81 year5Half a year

% of consumers(n=100)Time period

SURVEY COMPOSITION:

HEALTH STATE

NUTRITION

LIVING ENVIRONMENTQUALITY

CONTACT WITH NATURE

I.

II.

III.

IV.

QUANTIFICATIONof answers

Answers to questions from part:I. HEALTH STATE,III. LIVING ENVIRONMENT QUALITYIV. CONTACT WITH NATURE

were quantified (adequate number of points was assigned toeach answer – more points if the answer represented forexample better health state or more contacts with nature)

Three indicators were calculated as a result of thequantification:

- health state indicator,- living environment quality indicator- indicator of contacts with nature

HEALTH STATE - Examples of issues in the survey

• Infectious diseases (influence etc.)• Chronic diseases (diabetes,

cholelithiasis, osteoporosis,hyperthyroidism/hypothyroidism,obesity, cancers, chronic diseasesof circulatory system, respiratorysystem, urinary system,reproductive system, nervoussystem, sense-organs)

• Problems with alimentary canal(diarrheas, vomiting, stomach-aches, heartburn, indigestion,flatulences)

• Dental decay• Skin diseases

• Allergies• Visiting doctors and hospitals• Headaches• Sleep problems,• Stress• Ways used to manage their

stress• If they are

optimistic/pessimistic• If they use stimulants (coffee,

tea, cigarettes, alcohol – andhow often)

• If they practice sport regularly

• Less infectious diseases• Less problems with circulatory system• Less skin diseases• Less cancers• Less headaches• Less problems with alimentary canal• They visit hospitals not as often as conventional consumers• They often choose better ways to manage their stress• More of them practice sport regularly.

HEALTH STATE - Results

Organic consumers assessed their health state significantlybetter in comparison with conventional consumers

Health state indicator

LSD = 0,885; p=0,0006Significance

20,28 ± 3,47921,85 ± 2,837Mean ± SD

29 pointsMaximum

Conventionalgroup

Organicgroup

NUTRITION - Examples of issues in the survey

• Number of meals everyday

• If they eat breakfasts

• If they eat regularly

• How often they eat productsfrom different groups

• What they can say about thequality/the nutritional valueof their meals and about theatmosphere during themeals

• Quantity of liquid theydrink

• If they eat sweets betweenthe meals

• If they are on any specialdiet

• If they pay attention to thepresence and the quantityof synthetic food additivesin food products

• How often they visit fastfood restaurants

Nutritional pattern of organic consumers is much closer tothe nutritionists’ recommendations in comparison with

conventional consumers’ nutritional pattern

• More regular meals• More meals during the day• Most of them eat breakfast every day• They drink more liquids• They pay more attention to the presence and the

quantity of synthetic food additives in foodproducts

• They visit fast food restaurants much more rarelythan the representatives of conventional group

NUTRITION - Results

LIVING ENVIRONMENT QUALITY- Examples of issues in the survey

• If they live in adetached house/blockof flats

• If they live close tomotorways, industrialplants

• What is the distancebetween their homeand green areas

• What is the level ofnoise exposure in theirliving environment

Analysis of living environment quality shows alsosignificant difference in favour of organic consumers

• They usually live further frommotorways and industrial plants

• They live closer to the green areas

• In general they evaluate thesurroundings of their places of residencemore positively than conventionalconsumers

LIVING ENVIRONMENT QUALITY- Results

Living environmentquality indicator

LSD= 0,672, p=0,0019Significance

7,26 ± 2,6158,33 ± 2,184Mean ± SD

12 pointsMaximum

Conventionalgroup

Organicgroup

• Garden plots possession

• Presence of animals and flowers in livingenvironment

• Places where they spend their holidaysand weekends

• Time they use to spend close to thenature

CONTACT WITH NATURE- Examples of issues in the survey

Presented analyses didn’t show any significantdifferences between organic and conventional

consumers in this issue

CONTACT WITH NATURE - Results

Contact with natureindicator

LSD=0,933, p=0,3645 (NS)Significance11,07 ± 3,64111,5 ± 3,020Mean ± SD

18 pointsMaximum

Conventionalgroup

Organicgroup

Conclusions• Organic consumers assess their health state

significantly better than conventional consumers

• Organic consumers’ diet is much closer to thenutritional recommendations in comparison with adiet of conventional consumers

• Living environment quality indicator is significantlyhigher among organic consumers

• Promotion of ecological lifestyle including organicfood consumption can influence positively nutritionalpattern and the self-assessed health state ofconsumers.

Consumption of organic foodsand risk of atopic disease

during the first 2 years of life inthe Netherlands

(Kummeling et al. 2007)

Study characteristic

• Participants: 2764 children in the first 2 years of life

• Repeated questionnaires (parents were sent detailedquestionnaires when the infants were 3, 7, 12 and 24months of age)

• Blood analysis for total and specific IgE – venousblood samples were taken from 815 infants at two yearsof age

Types of diets

> 90%Strictly organic

50 - 90%Moderately organic

< 50%Conventional

% of organicproductsDiet

1502552369

6%10%84%

1752832306Children inthe first 2

years of life

5%9%86%Pregnantwomen

Strictlyorganic

Moderatelyorganic

Conventional

Typeof diet

Participantsof the study

Atopic sensitization at Age 2++565

292328

Prolonged wheeze in first 2 years8712

Recurrent wheeze in first 2 years293332

Eczema in first 2 years

Strictly organicgroup

(n=175) [%]

Moderately organicgroup

(n=283) [%]

Conventionalgroup

(n=2306) [%]

% of infants with atopic diseasesin analyzed groups

SUMMARY OFTHE RESULTS

• Consumption of organic dairy products was significantlyassociated with lower eczema risk

• There was no association of organic meat, fruit, vegetables oreggs, or the proportion of organic products within the total dietwith the development of eczema, wheeze or atopic sensitization.

• There was a tendency towards lower eczema risk in group ofchildren eating organic (no significant differences)

• Total serum IgE level was not associated with organic foodconsumption

Influence of organic diet on theamount of conjugated linoleicacids in breast milk of lactating

women in the Netherlands(Rist et al. 2007)

AIM OF THE STUDY

To find out whether the incorporation oforganic dairy and meat products in thematernal diet affects the contents of the

conjugated linoleic acid isomers (CLA) andtrans-vaccenic acid (TVA) in human breast

milk.

CHARACTERISTICOF THE STUDY

• Collection of milk samples from 312breastfeeding mothers (one monthpostpartum)

• Analyses of milk samples for fatty acidscomposition

RESULTS

• CLA and TVA content were statisticallyhigher in milk samples from womenconsuming organic products (milk, meat) incomparison to those eating conventionalproducts

Conclusions

• There are some very limited but clear evidences that ecological lifestylecomprising regular eating of organic foods improves the frame of mindand well-being of the consumers

• Regular consuming of the organic milk and milk products increases theintake of CLA and decreases the level of allergy in breast-fed infants

• It is unclear which elements of ecological lifestyle have the strongestimpact on human health (physical activity, closer contact with nature,organic food, healthy diet, less antibiotics in childhood, feeling ofsafety)?

• Further long lasting and deep studies are necessary!

THE ENDTHE END