Fruit flies raised on organic food live longer and have more offspring

[Spirit Bear]

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0052988

The food given to the flies were extracts of bananas, potatoes, raisins, and soy beans.

"On certain food sources, greater activity and greater stress resistance was additionally observed".

I take this as more evidence that food has properties we don't understand or haven't yet observed.

[goodsamaritan]

Actually, we as raw people do understand.
But those with the money interests refuse to understand or play dumb.

[Iguana]

Abstract

The “organic food” market is the fastest growing food sector, yet it is unclear whether organically raised food is nutritionally superior to conventionally grown food and whether consuming organic food bestows health benefits. In order to evaluate potential health benefits of organic foods, we used the well-characterized fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as a model system. Fruit flies were raised on a diets consisting of extracts of either conventionally or organically raised produce (bananas, potatoes, raisins, soy beans). Flies were then subjected to a variety of tests designed to assess overall fly health. Flies raised on diets made from organically grown produce had greater fertility and longevity. On certain food sources, greater activity and greater stress resistance was additionally observed, suggesting that organic food bestows positive effects on fly health. Our data show that Drosophila can be used as a convenient model system to experimentally test potential health effects of dietary components. Using this system, we provide evidence that organically raised food may provide animals with tangible benefits to overall health.

Citation: Chhabra R, Kolli S, Bauer JH (2013) Organically Grown Food Provides Health Benefits to Drosophila melanogaster. PLoS ONE 8(1): e52988. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0052988

Editor: Shree Ram Singh, National Cancer Institute, United States of America

Interesting, but they use a fundamentally  illogical way of thinking.  Organically grown food doesn't provide any health benefit : on the contrary, it is food grown with chemical fertilizers and pesticides which has a negative effect on health. Since insecticides are meant to kill insects, no wonder they have a negative effect on flies' longevity and fertility ! LOL! 

[LePatron7]

Thanks for pointing that out Iguana. It's an easily overlooked part of the story.

[TylerDurden]

Interesting, but they use a fundamentally  illogical way of thinking.  Organically grown food doesn't provide any health benefit : on the contrary, it is food grown with chemical fertilizers and pesticides which has a negative effect on health. Since insecticides are meant to kill insects, no wonder they have a negative effect on flies' longevity and fertility ! LOL! 

Err, on the contrary, organic food is supposed to avoid chemical fertilizers etc.

[eveheart]

Good point, Iguana. One of the great stories out of the GMO world (remember: GMO is automatically not organic) comes from India, where Round-up resistant strains of cotton are grown. (Round-up is a broad-spectrum herbicide, so Round-up resistant plants are genetically modified to live through applications of Round-up to kill the weeds in the field.) As has been the custom, the farmers feed the cotton plants to livestock after the cotton harvest. When fed Round-up resistant cotton plants, the livestock quickly falls ill and dies. When I read about this, it has always been implied that the GMO kills the livestock, but I never hear the Round-up application itself as being at fault.

All I can say is that there are some mighty big agribusiness corporations out there, and if they cannot fully control the truth, at least they do a good job of putting a spin on it. All hail the almighty Monsanto!

[Spirit Bear]

Actually, we as raw people do understand.
But those with the money interests refuse to understand or play dumb.

True, we've seen and felt the changes in our own bodies and we have a good philosophical framework to refer to for guidance. It's a lot easier to heal from disease when you understand what your digestive system does well with.

I think in the future we may have more precise instruments to examine food with and there will be more agreement on what is best for the human body. Or maybe we will learn to use the tools we already have in a more wise way.

[cherimoya_kid]

I think in the future we may have more precise instruments to examine food with and there will be more agreement on what is best for the human body.

Yes, and physical assault on those who profited from hiding the truth about nutrition.   Oh, and confiscation of their assets.

[Iguana]

Err, on the contrary, organic food is supposed to avoid chemical fertilizers etc.

Yes, that's exactly what I meant and you misunderstood me! "Organic food" should be taken as the norm and food grown with chemical fertilizer and pesticides as abnormal. Thus we shouldn't say that organic food provide a health benefit but rather that food grown with chemicals is detrimental to health.

That's the same with raw vs cooked food: raw food is normal and cooking has a negative impact on health. Therefore raw food doesn't provide any health benefit, it just provides normal health while cooked and processed food can cause illness.