Do ‘Organic’ Products Really Help Extend Life Expectancy

It commonly happens that a person who is quitting drugs or alcohol gets excited about the prospect of a healthier life and begins looking for other ways to improve. Getting sober will lead to enormous health benefits, but it may be only the first of many changes that you can make towards a healthier and happier you. Another step that you may want to take is to improve your diet by incorporating organic foods into your daily menu. Unless you have already studied the subject of organic food, you may be wondering what all the buzz is about. Simply put, organic food is just food in its natural state. It is actually ironic to realize that organic foods, which are treated as being something new or special, are nothing more than unaltered food. In order to be certified as organic, the food must not have been treated with pesticides that kill insects by poisoning them; it may not be genetically modified; it may not have been irradiated; and it cannot contain antibiotics or hormones. “Conventional” or “normal” foods, on the other hand, may have been subjected to any and all of these treatments, with the result that they are often not as nutritious or healthy as their organic, and therefore natural, counterparts. 


One of the greatest attractions of eating organic is the prospect that it may actually extend one’s life expectancy. This is especially important in light of the fact that average life expectancy is actually dropping in the United States. Now that you are getting sober, you probably want to do everything that you can to enjoy a long and healthy life. Improving your diet can go a long way towards achieving this goal. Some of the leading causes of death in the U.S. include degenerative diseases, diabetes, obesity and heart disease, all of which may be caused or contributed to by a bad diet. Organic foods are typically healthier, and this is not only because they are not contaminated by pesticides, hormones, radiation and genetic modification. Another reason has to do with the fact that organic farmers tend to do a better job of caring for the earth and producing better food. For example, they typically engage in more sustainable farming techniques, which means that the soil does not become depleted, resulting in foods that contain higher concentrations of minerals, vitamins and other nutrients that are vitally necessary to health and longevity.

Evidence that Organic Eating Means a Longer Life

The link between an organic diet and a longer life seems to exist based on commonsense observations, but it also appears to have been demonstrated by a recent study conducted at Southern Methodist University. The researchers fed two isolated groups of fruit flies a diet that was identical in every way except for one: Whereas the first group ate “conventional” foods, the control group at exclusively organic food. As a result, it was found that the flies that ate an organic diet lived longer than their peers. Further, these flies were also found to be more fertile and to produce offspring in greater numbers. Research has yet to prove that the same or similar effects would occur in humans who ate organic, but it would be reasonable to assume that they would. Given the enormous health benefits of organics, it is easy to justify spending a relatively small amount more to buy them. While organic food may mean a grocery bill of around 25 percent more than for shopping at a conventional supermarket, you can look at this expense as being a type of health insurance. By eating a healthier diet, you can give yourself a considerable boost in energy, fitness and your overall sense of wellbeing, in addition to the fact that you will be less prone to illness and may be able to spare yourself an astronomically costly period of life in which you would require surgery, prescription medication and could perhaps even be forced out of work.