Health and dietary traits of organic food consumers: results from the NutriNet-Santé study

Abstract

The dietary and health traits of organic food (OF) consumers have not been comprehensively described. The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with OF consumption. Data were collected from 54 283 participants from the NutriNet-Santé cohort using self-administered web-based questionnaires. Occasional organic food consumers and regular organic food consumers (ROFC) were compared with non-organic food consumers (NOFC) using logistical regression providing an OR and 95 % CI. Adherence to the French food-based guidelines and interactions between nutritional knowledge and OF consumption in adherence to dietary guidelines were investigated. Medical history was also assessed in relation to OF consumption. Compared with NOFC, ROFC were more likely to be vegetarian (OR 9·93; 95 % CI 7·42, 13·29 in women; OR 13·07; CI 7·00, 24·41 in men) and were less likely to be aware of nutritional guidelines regarding meat consumption (OR 0·37; CI 0·34, 0·40 in women; OR 0·41; CI 0·36, 0·47 in men). Compared with NOFC, ROFC had a lower risk of type II diabetes, hypertension and CVD; however, this effect was only significant for men. In contrast, organic consumers were more likely to report food allergies. Consuming OF appeared to affect the relationship between nutritional knowledge and adequate intake of meat/poultry/seafood/eggs and starchy food among both sexes. Our study provides new insights into the diet-and health-related behaviours of OF consumers in a large sample of participants residing in France. This should be taken into account in future studies investigating relationships between health and OF consumption.

A Systematic Review of Organic Versus Conventional Food Consumption: Is There a Measurable Benefit on Human Health?

“…Lifestyle factors amongst organic consumers are likely to have an important impact on external validity. Organic consumers tend to be more health conscious, are more likely to be vegetarian or vegan and are more likely to be physically active [7,8].…”

“…Regular consumers of organic food are most likely to be female, health-conscious, physically active, and in the higher brackets of education and income than their non-organic consuming counterparts [7,8]. They are also more likely to have a higher ratio of plant to animal foods, with a strong relationship between vegetarian/vegan consumers and organic consumption [7,9]. This consumer group generally has an increased wholefood dietary intake, as a result of both the general ethos of organic consumers (i.e., preference over processed/ultra-processed foods), and restricted use of additives in organic processed foods.…”

Modifications in dietary and alcohol intakes between before and after cancer diagnosis: Results from the prospective population-based NutriNet-Santé cohort

“…Among possible explanations of the decrease in vegetable intake are gastrointestinal/oral symptoms 43 or fear of dietary pesticide exposure 46 which have been associated with some cancer (prostate and hematopoietic) among professional users. 47 Indeed, this trend was more specifically observed in nonorganic vegetable consumers. The latter aspect deserves further investigation to better understand motivations, fears and believes of cancer patients related to nutrition and health issues.…”

“…The decrease in vegetable intake observed in our study was not associated with a degradation of monthly income following cancer diagnosis. Among possible explanations of the decrease in vegetable intake are gastrointestinal/oral symptoms43 or fear of dietary pesticide exposure46 which have been associated with some cancer (prostate and hematopoietic) among professional users 47. Indeed, this trend was more specifically observed in nonorganic vegetable consumers.…”

Organic Food in the Diet: Exposure and Health Implications

“…Most studies report that organic consumption is closely linked to other health and lifestyle indicators, e.g., consumers often have higher education and income, have lower body-mass index (BMI), are more physically active, and have healthier diets than those who do not or seldom use organic food (32,34,58,107,108). However, this pattern does not necessarily apply when organic food consumption is related to an alternative lifestyle that www.annualreviews.org • Exposure and Health Implicationsincludes vegetarianism, environmentalism, or other ideologies (10,48,89,107). Studies show that frequent organic consumption does not follow a typical age gradient but is found in both young adult (<25 years) and older adult (>40 years) age groups (81,107) and that organic consumers more often belong to households with children than do nonorganic consumers (48).…”