I've read several follow ups to this study and all of them say that this study addresses only PART of the questions (as many studies do) and not all of them. I agree with AA comments about organic vs. non organic. I've seen studies that show especially with fruits and vegetables that organic has more active phytochemicals than non (especially studies where children were involved). Ann, organic as I am aware is antibiotic free (all the foods with antibiotics are making us immune to medicinal antibiotics), hormone free (this should explain itself and I actually had a friend tell me about a girl they knew of that LOVED milk and drank a lot of it and by age 6 had developed breasts and she was NOT overweight), pesticide free (it seems like every day we are finding out that the "latest and greatest" after further testing is not so great) not to mention I've found that a lot of OTHER organic foods (i.e. my sons cereal bars contain turmeric for color rather than color additives) not to mention "purer foods" rather than preservatives (for fun, compare the labels). I cook EVERYTHING from scratch (yes it takes more time, but my mom and I agree and SHE grew up on a farm, that the food tastes SO much better) AND I know exactly what is in it. I went to an interesting lecture recently on buying local foods and not only was the discussion about organic, but also of buying fruits and vegetables when they are in season rather than out of season and in the winter (especially in Michigan where I live) eating more of the root crop. No, organic is NOT cheap, but to me I buy my clothes at Goodwill (I get the cutest things there) and spend my money on as much organic food, etc. as I can, I want to KNOW whats going in and on my body. Look at teflon, plastics etc and how for "convenience" sake it was SO good and now it is found to NOT be so good. I'm also concerned about the chemicals/preservatives that make up the "low fat/low sugar" foods (i.e Splenda) we had a "sugar substitute" that was found to cause cancer and this is a "new" product so I'm sceptical of IT'S safety...PERSONALLY, I put a little brown sugar in my oatmeal in the morning, but I KNOW it's brown sugar. It seems to me that for "convenience and palate" people will eat/use more of the "unknown" rather than the purer foods/chemicals. I also feel that quantity of fruits and vegetables as well as of fats is a large factor. Did the people in this study eat the "NEW" food pyramids recommendation of 9 fruits and vegetables per day or the 5 AND...more importantly, did they eat a VARIETY of ALL the foods (even the ones they don't like). I also wonder (and I'm sticking my neck out on this one) if some of these studies aren't "purposefully" skewed in favor of the drug companies (i.e don't bother with diet and exercise, only the drugs will work). Don't get me wrong, I think the drugs are important, but I can't help but wonder why the incidence of cancer has become so high when not only has the diet gotten worse, exercise lax, the environment polluted...don't laugh and NO, I'm not crazy, but sometimes I wonder if it isn't some kind of conspiracy (politically motivated). I'm curious to see what the WHEL study says as it ALSO is a large scale, 8yr study, but is much more specific. THERE...my 1/2 cent worth
Rhonda