The Importance of Organic Foods

One important factor in any health supplement is whether it's organic. Let me explain why.

If you already read through the page on ORAC scores, you know that one of the benefits touted by a lot of supplements these days is their capacity to eliminate free radicals. So if they're yelling about free radicals and the need to eliminate them, why would they provide you with a food that's not organic?

A food that isn't organic can be sprayed by highly toxic pesticides that -- you guessed it -- can act as free radicals in the body. So it seems to me that if you're getting a non-organic supplement with a high ORAC score, well, part of the ORAC capacity is going to be used on the chemicals present in the supplement itself!

What a waste.

Of course organic foods are usually grown in such a way that they're likely to include more nutrients. That's right -- just because two foods are identical in name and appearance doesn't mean they're identical in terms of nutrient content. Where a crop is grown and how it's grown can have a decided effect on the nutrients in the soil that are brought into the food itself.

So when you're looking for healthy chocolates, you want to look for those that are organic. And by the way, this is one reason why I wouldn't recommend most of the healthy chocolates on the market. But there are several other reasons as well, and that takes us to the topic of sugar and other sweeteners.