Quote:
A recent study conducted by Mother Earth News has found that eggs from pasture raised hens have higher values for a number of nutrients than USDA data for eggs from hens in confinement houses. Pastured eggs contain: 50% more vitamin E; 4 times the beta carotene; 35 times the omega-3 fatty acids; and half the cholesterol. And, they contain 10.5 mcg of folic acid (that is 10.5 mcg more than USDAs data for eggs).
A recent study funded by the USDA shows meat from chickens raised on pasture contained: 21% less total fat, 30% less saturated fat, 28% fewer calories, 50% more vitamin A, and 100% more omega-3 fatty acids.
A study conducted by James Madison University found bacterial contamination to be lower in pastured poultry: 133 colony-forming units per milliliter (cfu/ml) in pastured poultry compared to 3600 cfu/ml in conventional poultry.
A Virginia Tech study found pastured poultry to be 70% lower in fat, and of the fats present, poly-unsaturated were much higher than mono-saturated.
And a study by Pennsylvania State University found 3 times the omega-3s, twice the vitamin E, and 40% more vitamin A in the eggs of chickens on pastured compared to conventional confinement. (>
For more information visit:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/eggs/ or
www.eatwild.com
so hypothesize away I will. My personal opinion on the organic natural crowd is simply that most are very ignorant of what is organic and what is not, what is healthy and what is not. Even the ideal of a organic grown garden is with its flaws. Generaly speaking, a organic grown plant will be healthier than one fed a diet of chemical fertilizers, but just because someone uses tons of manures and compost doesnt mean that they are raising a healthier vegitable. Once our soils where virgin and full of recycled nutrients derived from the process of vegitation growth and decay, animal consumpsion and again manures and decay. The nutrients where continually recycled and reused by the next crop or plant. Then came man and our over consumeing ways. We cutdown the trees, plowed up the land and pretty much used up all the available recycled nutrients. We bury these nutrients in landfields or flush into our septic systems nd pretty much remove any chance that the nutrients can be reused. We pat ourselfs on the back when we try to go organic with our composting and recycling efforts. All we are really doing is fooling ourselfs. Compost is only as good as the organic material the compost was derived from. If you are using compost materials derived from nutrient deficient soils, well, your compost will be nutrient deficient as well. Applying to much compost can further unbalance the the soils fertility levels makeing soil less fertile and the plants less healthy and no better than the plants that are grown with the chemical fertilizer. If the nutrients are deficient in the soil, or in our compost, and we dont supply those missing nutrients, then the plants we grow will also be deficient in those same missing nutrients.
I am all for going organic, recycleing, and energy conservation, but my "hypothesize" is that most organic folks dont and wont take the time to learn the properway to use organic materials, and most often are led to believe whatever some other nutcase tells them is the gospel as far as how we should live and grow organic foods.