Does Organic Produce Have More Flavonoids?

Those of you who are familiar with my work will know that I spend a great deal of time and energy creating content that highlights the unique nutritional value of specific foods.

In the majority of cases, that value relies heavily on the presence of flavonoids – which I discuss often on my platform.

Flavonoids and compounds like them are not technically essential nutrients like vitamins or minerals, but they generally offer a number of tangible health benefits when consumed regularly over time.

In today’s post, I will explore the extent to which the content of these valuable compounds varies between organic and conventional produce.

A special thank you to CropLife Canada who have financially sponsored this post and supported me in exploring this highly relevant topic for my audience.

The views and conclusions expressed are my own and it certainly won’t surprise anyone to hear that I often field questions from clients as to whether the choice between organic and conventional produce will be a decisive one for their long-term health.

We’re about to take one step closer to finding out.

Let’s get to the good stuff!

What Does “Organic” Actually Mean?

In Canada when a food is labeled as organic it means that it is produced in alignment with the criteria set out by the Canada Organic Standard –  guidelines which list approved production methods for organic foods.

These guidelines do not speak to or suggest that food labeled organic is more safe for consumption nor do they suggest organic food has a higher nutrient content – both of which are common misunderstandings regarding organic foods.

Want to learn more myths vs facts about organic and conventionally produced foods? Croplife Canada has an excellent resource on the topic which you can access here.

How Much Does Organic Matter?

To explore the answer to this question in an evidence-based fashion, I’ll be relying on two recently published papers.

Paper #1 – A 2023 piece out of Plants (Basel)

“Organic vs. Non-Organic Plant-Based Foods—A Comparative Study on Phenolic Content and Antioxidant Capacity”

And…

Paper #2 – A 2024 piece out of Heliyon

“Are organics more nutritious than conventional foods? A comprehensive systematic review”

My Findings – Paper #1

Let’s start with some notable findings from paper #1 – as referenced above.

The Plants (Basel) study was a great fit for today’s discussion because it looked at a group of foods for differences in antioxidant capacity and content of flavonoids (anthocyanins, flavanols, flavonols) between the organic and conventionally grown versions of these foods.

The foods included olives, orange, cherry, tomato, onions, swiss chard, almonds, hazelnuts and walnuts.

are a type of flavonoid that give certain red and purple foods their colour.

They are compounds of great interest to me as someone who specializes in liver health and insulin resistance because they’ve been demonstrated to contribute positively to both through anti-inflammatory effects and positively influencing many aspects of cellular signalling.

The samples analyzed in this study found that, on average, organically grown produce had a 6% higher anthocyanin quantity then conventionally grown produce.

I would describe this as a measurable but modest difference and one that is fascinating to observe but not necessarily overwhelming.

Scientists speculate that one reason why organic produce may have slightly levels of these compounds is that these plant species produce more of these protective compounds in response to the higher stress growing conditions associated with organic farming.

Pretty cool right?

But certainly not enough for me to tell a client to consume organic at all costs.

So that was anthocyanins, but what about other relevant phytochemicals and their influence?

In terms of total polyphenol content, it is true that in 33% of samples, organic produce had a higher total polyphenol content but that the actual difference was once again generally only around 6%.

Once again, measurable but modest.

My Findings – Paper# 2

The 2024 study out of Heliyon looked at the cumulative findings of 147 scientific studies – each of which compared the nutritional content of plant-based foods that were grown either conventionally or organically.

Here are some of their key findings:

1. In ~29% of comparisons there was a statistically significant difference between the content of phytochemical compounds between organic and conventional produce.

2. In ~29% of comparisons the differences between organic and conventional produce were not consistent between studies (*)

3. In ~42% of comparisons no significant differences in nutrient content were found.

*Findings like these underline why it is so important to look at systematic review data (ie: the Heliyon paper which looks at numerous studies) to better understand this topic because it can be very difficult to fully establish the relationship between nutrient content of a given food and the way it is grown.  There are many factors at play beyond the organic vs conventional aspect which include variations in soil quality, geography and climate which are equally or even more likely to influence the nutrient content of a given food.

What It Means For You

As a dietitian who spends 6 days a week discussing nutrition either publicly or privately, I’m going to offer some thoughts on what this information means and specifically what it means for you.

1. If you were to grab a piece of organic vs conventionally grown produce at random, it is more likely that its nutritional value is very similar than very different.

2. Sometimes organic and conventionally grown produce do have different nutrient contents, but we cannot make broad claims that organic is always superior because the results vary across studies, depend on the nutrient being studied, and which foods we are comparing.

For example:

This paper observed that while organic produce tended to have higher Vitamin C content, the reverse was true for lycopene and B-carotene content which was higher amongst conventional produce.

Take home message:

I want to offer a few very important take home messages from today’s post.

1. The health gap between eating foods like fruits, vegetables and nuts regularly and not eating them at all is massive.

2. The health gap between eating any of these foods conventionally grown vs organically grown is variable and bidirectional and does not support a notion that it should be “organic or nothing”.

3. There’s nothing wrong with purchasing organic,but I cannot justify urging my clients to go out of their way economically to focus on organic produce only.

4. The evidence shows organic conventionally grown produce are equally safe, and the nutritional differences are negligible.

Want More Info?

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Until next time,

Andy De Santis RD MPH