"The Organic Factor - Tilting the Odds toward Healthy Development"

The cover story in the May-June, 2009 issue of Organic Processing Magazine is entitled "The Organic Factor – Tilting the Odds toward Healthy Development."  Written by the Organic Center's Chuck Benbrook, the article serves as an extended executive summary of the March 2009 "Critical Issue Report" entitled "That First Step: Organic Food and a Healthier Future."  The Executive Summary and full "That First Step" report are available on the Organic Center's website.

The six ways, or mechanisms, through which organic food and farming can contribute to tilting the odds toward healthy development are:

1. Lay the groundwork for normal endocrine system regulation of blood sugars, lipids, energy intake, and immune system functions.
2. Establish and help sustain taste-based preferences in the child for familiar nutrient-dense and flavorful foods.
3. Largely eliminate dietary exposures to pesticides.
4. Triggering or reinforcing a sense of satiety, or fullness, thereby reducing excessive caloric intake at the end of satisfying meals.
5. Lessening or limiting the cellular and genetic damage done by reactive oxygen species (so-called free radicals), reducing the risk of diabetes and other diseases rooted in inflammation (e.g., arthritis, cardiovascular disease) and rapid cell growth (cancer).
6. Slowing, and perhaps even reversing certain aspects of neurological aging, leading to improved memory and retention of cognitive skills.

www.organic-center.org