Human growth and progress have covered a long, long journey over these ages. Development, in the simplest form, has allowed us to keep any type of information at our fingertips. We are flying, we are heading towards space tourism and we are yet to witness the construction of underwater hotels. We have been making things easier for us throughout these years and have been developing sophisticated food processing techniques and genetic engineering to enhance the food value and the sizes of produces and processed items.
But sometimes, we do feel that a backward movement is required taking into account the growing concerns over the use of pesticides, chemicals, irradiation, genetic modifications, industrial solvents and food additives. And at this point, we feel like going back to the "basics". And this is the reason why the organic foods have recently shot into popularity.
But now, a recent study has claimed that consuming organic foods may make you to compromise on the intake of some vital nutrients. And the organic food in question is organic milk. Researchers at the University of Surrey have suggested that individuals may be compromising on their iodine intake if they are consuming organic milk.
Researchers tried to draw comparison between retail organic and the conventional milk and for that, they studied 92 organic milk samples as against 80 conventional milk samples. The milk samples were secured from retail outlets scattered in sixteen regions in the United Kingdom.
The study has revealed that the iodine concentration in organic milk is around 42.1 percent lower than that in conventional milk. And this finding is if significant importance because iodine, an important component of thyroid hormones, is considered vital for brain development right from the fetal stage till the early years of childhood.
Even mild-to-moderate deficiency of the nutrient in pregnant women has been found to be associated with reduced brain and neurological development of the growing embryo. In the future life, this can mean poor IQ and bad school performance for the child.
Pregnant women consuming organic milk need to consider this shortfall and may need to find some other food sources of iodine. As a matter of fact, milk is the main source of iodine in the U.K. diet. Researchers suggest that pregnant women may get their necessary iodine dosage from fish.
We know and even consoled by a statement, "Nothing is perfect" or "No one is perfect". And this only makes us more indecisive. We keep on trying to strike a balance between "To opt or not to opt".
