Organic food gives no cancer protection, Oxford University study finds

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EATING organic does not cut the risk of cancer, a study of hundreds of thousands of women has concluded. Women who always ate organic food were no less likely to get a range of 16 cancers than those who never ate organic, Oxford scientists said.

Research has shown that organic food is less likely to be contaminated with pesticide residue and the belief that it is healthier is one reason shoppers buy organic. To test this, researchers looked at data on 600,000 middle-aged women who were being tracked by the Million Women Study. They compared the 180,000 women who said they never ate organic with the 45,000 who said they always or usually did, looking at how many got cancer in a nine-year period.

After adjusting for such factors as age, class and exercise, they found the overall cancer risk between the two groups was almost identical. When the researchers looked specifically at cancers previously linked to pesticide exposure, such as breast cancer or soft tissue sarcoma, they also found no risk, although the risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma appeared lower in the organic group.

Professor Tim Key, of the University of Oxford, said: "We found no evidence that a woman's overall cancer risk was decreased if she generally ate organic food. More research is needed to follow-up our findings of a possible reduction in risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma."

In a paper published in the British Journal of Cancer, his team say the finding for non-Hodgkin lymphoma could be due to chance. Similarly they say that a statistically significant increase in the risk of breast cancer in women eating only organic food is probably the result of other factors.

Claire Knight, at Cancer Research UK which helped to fund the study, said: "This adds to the evidence that eating organically grown food doesn't lower your overall cancer risk. But if you're anxious about pesticide residues on fruit and vegetables, it's a good idea to wash them before eating.

"More than 9 per cent of cancer cases in the UK may be linked to dietary factors, of which almost 5 per cent are linked to not eating enough fruit and vegetables. So eating a well-balanced diet which is high in fruit and vegetables whether conventionally grown or not can help reduce your cancer risk."

Peter Melchett of the Soil Association said the researchers were too quick to dismiss the non-Hodgkin lymphoma link and said they had "a poor understanding of what pesticides are found in and how pesticides get into food".