All About GMO & Organic Food.

You may have seen a lot of labels on your foods named as "GMO" or "organic food." But have you ever wondered what these labels actually means?

Well, in today's lesson, we are going to tell you all about GMOs and organic food. So, ready to take a little history lesson with us, don't worry we are not going to talk about the wars here, it's the history of nutrition.

What Are GMOs?

So, first thing, What is a GMO? Well, GMO is a term that stands for genetically modified organisms. These all are living organisms including food which have gone through biotechnological processes in order to get a specific result.

For example, various types of food products, especially corn and soybean crops, are genetically modified in the laboratories so that they can withstand herbicides and insects.

But the question here is: Are these GMOs bad for you? If we talk about their effects on health they are not necessarily bad. But like all the other things out there GMOs have their own pros and cons.

Pros of GMOs

• GMOs can make food more nutritious by adding more nutrients like vitamins and minerals into the food.  For example, scientific researchers have been able to create a modified form of corn which has 2 times more folate and 6 times more vitamin C than regular corn.

• GMO crops are less vulnerable to pests and other insects which improves food production without using much of the pesticides.

• As GMO crops grow efficiently it takes farmers less time and resources to produce the food. Which results in low prices of GMO food. 

Some Cons of GMOs

What is organic food? 

Organic food or products are the ones which are grown without any conventional pesticides.

These food products are produced without any bioengineering, ionizing radiation, or synthetic fertilizer. Instead, manufacturers use some natural pesticides on these organic crops.

So, the main question here is:

Is This Organic Food Better?

The answer to this question is not clear yet. Certain studies show that organic foods are healthier and contain higher nutrients. Other studies show that there is not much difference when it comes to the nutrition of organic and non-organic foods.

The reason behind this different result in these studies is due to the different growing practices of the same organic food. For instance, the organic fruits and vegetables you look at on the shelves of supermarkets may all be organic but not the same. Because these were grown at different places, in different conditions. These all have different nutritional values depending upon the soil in which they grow, and the time they were harvested.

Well, that must be confusing, if you should add these organic foods to the grocery list or not, right? Here is the tip for you.

Ditch the Dirty Dozen:

Have you ever heard of the Dirty Dozens concept? Let us tell you; Dirty dozen is a list of 12 non-organic fruits and vegetables that are considered to have high levels of pesticide residue. We are not saying that you should avoid all the conventionally grown foods present in the list, as we also believe that all the fruits and vegetables are healthy for you.

All we want is for you to get some more knowledge about these organic products so that you can use them in a more healthy way. Some fruits and vegetables in the list of dirty dozen: apples, grapes, cherries, Peaches, pears, strawberries, spinach, bell and hot peppers, spinach, kale, tomatoes and celery.

So, if you are buying any fruits and vegetables from this list, choose the organic ones. But still, if you have chosen the conventionally grown make sure to wash them properly under the running tap to remove all the pesticide residue.

Final Words

Now that you know all the information about GMOs and the organic, you can use your critical thinking skills and choose what's best for you. 

And whatever you choose just make sure to rinse that fruit and vegetable well before getting it in your mouth and you are good to go.