Is Organic Really Better? Healthy Food or Trendy Scam?
Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell2 HN recommenders · recommended in 2 months, 2019–2025
explainer · general · evergreen · 2019–2025 on HN
A Kurzgesagt explainer asking whether organic food is really healthier or better for the environment. It defines what organic means and looks at pesticide use, nutrition and environmental impact, with sources.
Cited as a sourced overview of what organic means and how it compares on pesticides and nutrition.
Up next
1 mo on HNReal Life Emoji Keyboard!
Tom Scott
1 HN recommend · 2019–2024
3 mo on HNHow We're Redefining the kg
Veritasium
3 HN recommender · 2017–2024
3 mo on HNEmojli: Behind the Scenes and Why You Should Never Build An App
Tom Scott
3 HN recommender · 2016–2019
5 mo on HNHow I Designed a Free Music Font for 5 Million Musicians (MuseScore 3.6)
Tantacrul
5 HN recommender · 2021–2024
3 mo on HNThe Art of the Bodge: How I Made The Emoji Keyboard
Tom Scott
4 HN recommender · 2018–2024
12 mo on HNJuice it or lose it - a talk by Martin Jonasson & Petri Purho
grapefrukt
12 HN recommender · 2013–2025
4 mo on HNThis giant model stopped a terrible plan
Tom Scott
5 HN recommender · 2018–2026
11 mo on HN“Hello, world” from scratch on a 6502 — Part 1
Ben Eater
11 HN recommender · 2019–2026
12 mo on HNSugar: THE BITTER TRUTH
University of California Television (UCTV)
13 HN recommender · 2010–2024
9 mo on HNDr. Michael Greger | How Not To Die | Talks at Google
Talks at Google
8 HN recommender · 2016–2022
8 mo on HNEating less Meat won't save the Planet. Here's Why
Joseph Everett - WIL
10 HN recommender · 2021–2026
8 mo on HNDr. Jason Fung - 'Therapeutic Fasting - Solving the Two-Compartment Problem'
Low Carb Down Under
7 HN recommender · 2017–2022
5 comments from Hacker News
Organic food actually doesn't have significantly less pesticides in them. Here is a good video about it: ▶ this video
Kurzgesagt has a pretty great video[0] about organic food, and goes a little bit into what the definition of "organic" means. Digging through his citations[1] (which is awesome, btw), as far as American legal definitions and pesticides and the whatnot are concerned, the relevant law[2] says that pest and disease problems can be controlled using "non-synthetic controls, such as...repellents", meaning that pesticides can be used, as long as they're also "organic" (which, he notes later in the video, there are slightly less, but still non-zero traces of, and not necessarily safer[3]) That being said, there really shouldn't be a worry about traces of "chemicals" on organic OR non-organic produce, as the FDA has very strict guide lines and testing procedures that produce sellers go through[4] before sending out produce that almost everyone is well under. [0]: ▶ this video [1]: link [2]: link [3]: link [4]: link
I can do all of this and be hit by a bus tomorrow. I'm not saying don't do it, but there's already so many assumptions made. It's also playing whack-a-mole. For example, organic might not exactly [0] be what you think it is [1]. What's more important is that you actually do eat enough fruits and vegetables. Reverse osmosis membranes are made of plastic [2] and might themselves be introducing tons of microplastics to the water [3]. Our parents got leaded gasoline. We get microplastics. The bandwidth to focus on these kind details usually comes with certain financial security. There's simply too many variables. Your average joe who can't use "Locale" to source their food. (An interesting experiment is to grab the text body of this blog post and ask AI to estimate the author's net worth and yearly salary.) “A ship in harbour is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” -- John A Shedd [0] link [1] ▶ this video [2] link [3] link
The research is mixed and inconclusive. A 2019 meta-analysis by Kurzgesagt [1] claims that organic food is slightly more nutritious with increased levels of antioxidants. [1] ▶ this video In my personal experience, I can taste the frigging poison in non-organic produce, and processed food just makes me more hungry.
Organic food is negligibly different from non-organic food and is generally worse for the environment because of the additional resources required for it. ▶ this video