Switching to an organic diet causes your pesticide levels to drop surprisingly quickly

Why did you make the switch to organic? If you’re like many people, one of your biggest motivators was likely avoiding toxic pesticides. Of course, you can’t actually see the pesticides on the fruits and vegetables you consume, so you might wonder sometimes if this often-expensive choice is actually paying off in terms of your health or if the damage is already done. Researchers from the University of California at Berkeley School of Public Health had the same question, and they found the answer is a clear “yes.”

In a study that built on previous studies conducted around the world, the researchers looked at 16 people who were part of four different families that were geographically and demographically diverse, coming from cities including Atlanta, Baltimore, Oakland and Minneapolis. The participants were tested for a group of selected pesticides and the products they break down to in urine. Tests from independent labs during their six days on a conventional diet showed the presence of 40 different pesticides.

These people were then placed on an all-organic food diet, with the researchers either purchasing the organic versions of everything on the families’ shopping lists and ensuring they ate only those foods or having a licensed chef prepare their meals. Just six days later, their overall pesticide levels had dropped by a remarkable 60.5 percent. It was organophosphates that dropped the most at 70 percent overall, while chlorpyrifos dropped by 61 percent and malathion fell by 95 percent. These three chemicals have been linked to cancer, autism, reduced IQ and learning disabilities. The herbicide 2,4-D fell by 37 percent; this has been linked to problems like liver damage, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and endocrine disruption. The study did not look at glyphosate due to the difficulty involved in analyzing it.

Experts say that the 158 urine samples collected allow for statistical significance despite the relatively small number of participants, and the find