Organic food and health
Trace elements, bioactive secondary metabolites and vitamins are among the most important quality parameters in plants. Yet, very little information is available on their content, bioavailability and health effects of organically grown plant food products.
The main objective of the present proposal is to study the impact of different agricultural management practises relevant for organic farming on the ability of cereal and vegetable crops to absorb trace elements from the soil and to synthesise bioactive compounds (secondary metabolites, antioxidant vitamins and phytates) with health promoting effects.
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Field experiments with a rigidly controlled design will be implemented together with state-of-the-art analytical techniques allowing solid conclusions to be drawn on the variability and optimum levels of bioactive compounds such as molecular species of the elements iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), selenium (Se), sulphur (S) and bioactive metabolites (as flavonoids and carotenoids), antioxidant vitamins (vitamin C and E) and phytates. The multitude of analytical data from plant and soil samples will be analysed by multivariate statistical methods in order to reveal differences between the cultivation systems used. Finally, the relationship between bioavailability of the nutrients studied and the elemtal fingerprint of plants will be extracted by the statisticalmethods.
In addition to the human bioavailability study outlined above, tentative conclusions from a recently terminated study on rats will be further explored in OrgTrace. These preliminary data suggested that organic food may alter the immune status, sleep/activity pattern, accumulation of adipose tissue, liver function and vitamin E status, while traditional measures of nutrient value were unaffected by the production method of food (organic vs. conventional). Although these findings could not be directly linked to organic or conventional production systems, the observed differences were all in the favour of the organic diets.
This study suffers (like most other studies reported in the literature) from the fact that only one replication per food produce was used in the animal studies, whereby the variation due to sources like field and seasonal variations, respectively, could not be estimated. In addition, it was not possible to relate the responses of humans and animals to the diet composition due to the limited number of replicates. Thus, it is of outmost importance that future investigations on the effect of Organic food on human health and well-being should be based on a well-defined and well-controlled food produce system with replications of the food production systems - such as described in the current OrgTrace project.
The systematic approach of OrgTrace will be a major improvement compared to previous studies, where organic and conventional foods have been compared on the basis of a relatively narrow selection of compounds with limited information about agricultural practice and growth history.
From a practical point of view, the project will generate knowledge valuable for the future plant growth optimization, nutritional quality and traceability of organically-grown foods. This will facilitate further developments in competitiveness and market share of organic foods.
Project title
Content, Bioavailability and Health Effects of Trace Elements and Bioactive Components in Organic Agricultural Systems (OrgTrace)
Project leader
Søren Husted, Associate professor, Institute of Plant and Soil Science, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C. Tel: (+45) 3533 3498. E-mail:shu@life.ku.dk
Project participants
Jan K. Schjørring, Bente Broeng, Kristian Holst, Thomas Hesselhøj Hansen, Susanne Bügel, Lotte Lauritzen, Ole Hels, Hanne Jensen, Berit Hoielt (Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen), Erik Huusfeldt Larsen, Pia Knuthsen, Jette Jakobsen, Jens J. Sloth, Birgitte Koch Herbst, Kirsten Pinndal (National Veterinary Institute/National Food Institute, Tecnical University of Denmark), Charlotte Lauridsen, Helle Risdahl Juul-Madsen, Henry Jørgensen (Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Aarhus)
