Is organic food really better than the conventional variety? Apparently many people think so at least that s what a recent study from Cornell University demonstrates.
Researchers asked 115 volunteers to taste and rate 3 pairs of foods yogurt, cookies, and chips. Each member of a pair was labeled either organic or conventional . After the tasting, the participants rated the taste and calorie content of each food, and how much they d be willing to pay for them.
The key, of course, is that the supposedly organic and conventional foods were all the same, but you wouldn t know that from the results. Participants thought the organic cookies and yogurt tasted less fatty, and the organic cookies and chips were thought to be more nutritious. But regular cookies, the raters said, were tastier. Further, people would be willing to pay a premium of over 20 percent more for organic foods.
All these inaccuracies, the researchers said, were due to the health halo surrounding the organic label. Interestingly, they also found that people who reported that they regularly read nutrition labels were less likely to be susceptible to this health halo effect than people who did not read them.
ACSH s Dr. Ruth Kava commented, It s interesting to see how the organic label which originated as a marketing tool seems to have taken on a life of its own. But there really are no data to substantiate a better health profile of organic versus conventionally-raised foods.