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Living Maxwell

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Another Reason to Eat Organic – Lower Your Risk of Cancer by Up to 25%

In the latest President’s Cancer Panel report, it was found that 41% of Americans are going to get cancer and 21% of Americans are going to die from cancer.

What makes these numbers even more sobering is that this data was from a decade ago, and I have heard doctors say that they now believe a minimum of 50% of the population will get cancer at some point in their lives.

Given how deeply cancer has permeated our society, it would seem to make sense that people should be doing whatever they can to avoid contracting this deadly disease.

And according to a recent study out of France, as reported in JAMA Internal Medicine, eating as much organic food as possible is an important strategy to accomplish this.

Researchers at the Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale in France looked at the diets of nearly 70,000 adults over an average period of 4.5 years. What they found was:

– The participants who ate the most organic food were 25% less likely to develop cancer. More specifically, these individuals were 73% less likely to develop non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and 21% less likely to develop post-menopausal breast cancer.

– Individuals who ate low-to-medium quality diets yet continued eating organic food experienced a lower risk of cancer.

While critics point to limitations or flaws in the study, such as using an insufficient measure of daily organic food intake or the fact that people who ate organic food were much healthier than those who didn’t, the overall results of the study were consistent with those of the International Agency for Research in Cancer, which found pesticides are cancer-causing in humans.

The findings are also consistent with those of Dr. Jorge E. Chavarro, an associate professor in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, which showed a correlation between organic food consumption and pesticide levels in urine.

For those of us who are organic consumers or advocates, this study is of no surprise at all because we are acutely aware of the dangers of pesticides that are routinely sprayed on our nation’s farms, schools and parks; most notably, glyphosate — the primary ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup. Glyphosate was called a “probable human carcinogen” by the World Health Organization and is known to the State of California to cause cancer.

Now we have yet another study validating that organic food is of tremendous benefit to your health.

And it could very well save your life.

A message from Tradin Organic

How Tradin Organic is Helping Coconut Farmers in The Philippines

For more than a decade, Tradin Organic has been working with local partners in The Philippines to bring a diversified range of organic products to the market, such as coconut oil, tropical fruits and even cocoa.

The company is helping to support local farmers by assisting them with technical support and organic certification, in addition to paying Fairtrade premium on top of the organic premium.

Learn more.

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Living Maxwell

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Study: Organic has More Antioxidants, Much Fewer Pesticides, and Less Cadmium than Conventionally-Grown

The evidence as to why people should choose organic over conventional just keeps rolling in.

In a brand new study just published by researchers at Newcastle University in England, it was found that organic fruits, vegetables, and grains contained higher levels of antioxidants and lower levels of pesticides compared to the same conventionally-grown food.

Some details of the study include:

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A message from Tradin Organic

Why Tradin Organic is Prioritizing Regenerative Organic Farming

At Tradin Organic, we believe that regenerative organic farming is key to growing healthy and nutritious food ingredients — for now and for future generations.

And in Sierra Leone, we have grown the world’s first Regenerative Organic Certified cacao.

Learn more.

Organic Insider

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Study Links Pesticides in Water to Food Allergies

Just the other week, I wrote about a California farming community that MUST buy bottled water because the tap water is so polluted from pesticides and other contaminants.

Well, the news about the horrid quality of our drinking water continues.

Trying to figure out why food allergies have exploded over the past 20 years, a team of researchers published a study in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology which said that there is a relationship between the use of a group of pesticides called dichlorophenols and food allergies.

TIME Magazine explained that the study’s participants who had high levels of dichlorophenols in their bodies were 80% more likely to have food sensitivity than those with lower levels, and the authors believe the exposure to the chemicals may be contributing to a hyper-sensitive immune system that recognizes even common food proteins as foreign.

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Organic Insider

Must-Read

President’s Cancer Panel Report is a Huge Endorsement for Organic Food

A few days ago, the President’s Cancer Panel, a group of independent doctors and researchers, released its annual report called “Reducing our Environmental Cancer Risk: What We Can Do Now”. Needless to say, the connection between the amount of chemicals/harmful toxins in our environment and the high incidence of cancer is incredibly strong, and decisive action needs to be taken.

In its letter to the President, the Panel “urges you most strongly to use the power of your office to remove the carcinogens and other toxins from our food, water and air that needlessly increase health care costs, cripple our Nation’s productivity, and devastate lives.”

The report recommends that in order to decrease exposure to pesticides, individuals should choose “food grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers” and “exposure to antibiotics, growth hormones and toxic run-off from livestock feed lots can be minimized by eating free-range meat without these medications.”

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