The solution
There is no evidence that eating organic food makes a significant difference to your health. Seal’s paper has different findings to two meta-analyses in 2009 and 2012 that did not find a link between organic food and better health. Seal says his research has more studies that now make this link statistically significant – which is not the same as clinically significant. To link organic food with better health, a study would need two groups of people randomly divided into those eating organic and those eating non-organic food – but they would have to eat the same foods as each other for months. Even then, you could only measure levels of markers of disease such as cholesterol levels or weight.
So don’t hold your breath. People say they buy organic food because it has fewer pesticides, antibiotics and additives. They also think organic production is kinder to animals and the soil. A 2012 meta-analysis from Stanford did find pesticides residues in non-organic food – but in safe amounts. It boils down to whether you believe in safe amounts or not – and if you can afford to avoid them. But so far the research says that conventional healthy food has the same benefits as organic healthy food.