The truth about organic food - according to science

What does "organic" food mean? And how do you know if something's organic? Of course, foods tell you if they're organic in massive letters on the packaging. And they cost way more. But what makes a food organic? Is eating organic better for your health? And are the benefits worth the expense? Luckily, Professor Tim Spector is here today with answers. Tim is one of the world's top 100 most cited scientists, a scientific co-founder of ZOE, and the author of the bestselling book Food for Life: The New Science of Eating Well. Stick around until the end, and you'll also find out the answer to a question we get often: Does Tim eat organic? Download our FREE guide — Top 10 Tips to Live Healthier: https://zoe.com/freeguide Timecodes: 00:00 - Intro 01:21 - Quickfire round 02:36 - What is organic food? 03:06 - Pesticides vs insecticides 08:06 - Diseases 09:15 - Herbicide risks 16:03 - Nutrient comparison  18:21 - Natural chemical defences 20:32 - Does Tim Eat organic food? 22:15 - Foods high in chemicals 25:32 - Organic and cost 26:56 - Washing food 31:11 - Summary and outro Mentioned in today’s episode:  Organic food consumption and the incidence of cancer in a large prospective study of women in the United Kingdom from the British Journal of Cancer Association of frequency of organic food consumption with cancer risk from JAMA Internal Medicine Impacts of dietary exposure to pesticides on faecal microbiome metabolism in adult twins from Environmental Health Follow ZOE on Instagram. Episode transcripts are available here. Is there a nutrition topic you’d like us to explore? Email us at [email protected] and we’ll do our best to cover it.