How to reduce stress levels? How to eat healthy? How to become e a healthier person? That are important questions in our daily life. It is true that stress can impact Humans negatively and often leads to sickness or health problems.
However, in nature STRESS is a useful instrument to ACTIVATE protection mechanisms! And... there is a difference in:
--> stress for humans leading to health problems
--> stress for nature/plants leading to health solutions
(Can red onions make us Healthy?)
Organic Vegetables are Healthier?
A recent study published in the Agricultural and Food Chemistry Journal explains, in simple wordings, that "stressed vegetables" contain more healthy ingredients than industrial grown vegetables/greens.
What did the researchers do?
It has been long time suggested that biologically and organically grown vegetables are more healthy than vegetables grown in fertilizer and pesticides optimized areas. It was not easy to conclude, however. This team decided to perform a long term study where they compared it side by side:
One piece of land was "optimized with fertilizers", the other was complete organically maintained. They were making a type of ONIONS to compare their differences in nutrients.
(Figure: Soil with fertilizer)
Every year they freeze dried all onions and analyzed them with HPLC (High pressure liquid chromatography, a technique that make visible all molecules via a column separation).
(Figure: HPLC)
What did they found:
The organically grown onions were significantly higher in ANTI OXIDANTS levels! The red onions had higher levels of anthocyane, the white ones were higher in quercetine. They also saw that their concentrations depended on weather conditions in the years.
Much higher level of Anti Oxidants!
They found that in the 6 years the mean sum of anti oxidants in organically was 10-50% higher than in onions form the pesticide group.
(Figure: Molecular structure of flavonoid Anthocyane)
(Figure: Molecular structure of quercetine)
How does that work?
They suggest that the plants on the organically grown lands suffer MORE stress and plagues. Therefore the plants start to defend themself and activate a defense mechanism, of which anti oxidants are an important part!!!
Conclusion: The use of less pesticides and fertilizer is NOT helping the plants, nor Human.
Why are antioxidants healthy?
Antioxidants are part of the chemical group of flavonoids, which are common in food and greens, wine, fruits. The are capable of catching free radicals in the body and works against inflammation.
Eat Healthy, Eat Organic!
:-)
Sources:
- J. Agric. Food Chem., 2017, 65 (25), pp 5122–5132
- picture antocyanide and quercetine: wikipedia.
Bee Well
@Beesteem