An international team of researchers, including the renowned Charles Benbrook at Washington State University, reviewed 343 peer-reviewed studies comparing organic with conventional produce. Their conclusions?  Organic food is more nutritious, especially in antioxidant polyphenols that have been linked to lowering the risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, neurodegenerative disease and cancer.  Organic produce is safer. Conventionally grown crops were 4 times more likely to contain pesticide residues and, in addition,they had significantly higher concentrations of the toxic heavy metal cadmium. When interviewed, Benbrook noted that the quality and reliability of comparison studies has greatly improved in recent years leading to the discovery of significant nutritional and food safety differences not detected in earlier studies. In 2003, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported finding pesticides in every one of the 9,000+ Americans they tested. The…

We all know that smoking is unhealthy and that secondhand smoke is harmful. However, did you know it can harm your hearing? A surprising new study from the U.S. Department of Tobacco Control has concluded that nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke are 14 percent more likely to suffer hearing loss in the low to midfrequency range. The mechanism by which the hearing loss happens is not fully understood. Previous studies have also found an association between smoking and hearing loss.…