Last year pediatrician Dr. Alan Greene visited my office, but after a quick check of the company cafeteria, he raced out to forage for lunch elsewhere. The reason? He was determined to eat only organic foods, and nothing in The Times's cafeteria was labeled as such.
I was taken aback, but Dr. Greene explained he was in the midst of his own personal experiment -- to determine if a person can eat organic foods exclusively -- just as breeding livestock must do to be certified organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He has finally achieved his goal -- three years of eating all organic all the time.
Dr. Greene's organic diet, including the challenges he faced sticking to it, is chronicled in the Well column in Tuesday's Science Times. Whether eating organic makes a difference for health is a matter of debate. A University of Copenhagen study of peas, kale and other organic foods says it doesn't. But last year, a 10-year study from the University of California at Davis showed organic tomatoes have nearly double the level of certain nutrients than tomatoes grown the conventional way.
For his part, Dr. Greene says he feels healthier. To learn more, read For 3 Never-Easy Years, Every Bite Organic
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