Paul Penders – Natural Herbal Skincare Products

Organic Food – Do We Need It? (updated)

Posted on 06. Aug, 2009 by Steen in News & Articles

Paul Penders’ Newsletter (published Wednesday) mentioned a new study, recently published by The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The study concluded among other things, that:

• Organic food has no nutritional or health benefits over ordinary food.
• No difference was found between levels of vitamin C, calcium, magnesium and zinc in vegetables and fruits. The same can be said about organic eggs, milk and meats.

So, are we wasting our money when we buy organic food and vegetables? Does the concept of “organically grown” have no value at all? And how does all this relate to organic health care products?

Paul Penders

Amanda McGillivray and her family

We made our CEO, Paul Penders and our United Kingdom distributor, Amanda McGillivray from The Natural Skincare Company, discuss this.

The discussion – or maybe debate is a more correct word – is not meant to find the one and only truth to these questions. The debate I first of all meant to raise some questions and some awareness.

Reading the news and the Internet the past days seem to show there are nearly as many opinions as there are comments.

Of course, we would very much like to know your opinion on this matter. You are welcome to let us know by posting a comment.

Now, on to the debate between Paul and Amanda:

Paul:  We have always fought strongly for the “natural”; the very best in natural it has to be said. The organic movement is good, but fanaticism always confuses (like in all cases), when savvy marketers and scrupulous manufacturers are playing with emotions and obviously are leading innocent consumers to spend too much on expensive products.

We will be the last one to say “stop the organic movement”, but maybe a more realistic attitude is sometime needed?

Amanda:  We mustn’t confuse the organic food market with the natural/organic skincare market. Organic food is different, in that all it means is that crops are grown without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides etc. The alternative is awful; food covered with toxic chemicals maybe sprayed 10 times?

With skincare, I think we look at things slightly differently. Organic is important, still, but most important is the quality of the natural ingredients. But natural is a word which is so abused by manufacturers.

The consumer does need some sort of way of measuring how good a product is, and at the moment, the only way they have is if an organic product is certified by an association of some sort. Of course, it isn’t fool-proof, and there are some abusers of the system, but surely, it is better than nothing at all…

Paul:  Yes, I agree with most of what you say, especially that skincare can not be compared to food…

When it comes to healthy vs. not healthy, organic vs. non-organic, the confusion is huge. Suddenly some organization “pops-up”, trying to play God and to tell us what is right and what is wrong.

I’m not talking about this study from The American Journal on Clinical Nutrition, but about various certification bodies and certain “cosmetic” companies claims that this and that product is “certified organic”. And suddenly they end up being sued for fraud! So at the end, I think much will come back to trust.

Amanda:  I still believe very much in organically produced food. I think we all need to get back to nature, and produce things in a more environmental way – not just because of the pesticides, but also to protect the environment.

Why is there so much cancer in the UK, and allergies, and auto-immune diseases? I believe it’s because of what we are eating and the air we are breathing!

At least with organic food and skincare we are doing something – we are making a protest against a way of life which is getting out of control and damaging our planet.

The organic industry may not be perfect and there are people out there just to make money, but there are also a HUGE number of honest, caring well-researched and respected people who believe in the organic way of life.

Paul:  What I have said until now might sound like I don’t care about organic ingredients in cosmetics – but I do! I have been making strong statements about this for many years, and I believe it is very important to use organic ingredients instead of chemicals.

But organic ingredients are not always better than natural ingredients. Besides that, organic ingredients are not always natural in the first place!

I don’t care about the organic certifying bodies. They confuse matters because of ego, culture and maybe religion and certainly because of money. In fact, they charge quite some money. More and more companies refuse to give in to their pressure. This is why I sometimes name the certifying bodies “mafia”.

In fact, it should be the role of the government – and not the certifying bodies -  to fine the fraudster companies or even put the big liars behind bars.

Amanda: I do feel that most people in this industry in the UK anyway, and who have the smaller businesses, are very very honest, and it is just the few rather than the majority who give any organization a bad name, but if the ethos of an organization and their aims are honest, even if some companies deceive them and the public, this should not mean that the organization is then ‘no good’.

Paul: The matter that keeps hanging here is that organic ingredients (for cosmetics) are not always better for the skin because they are organic. Much is written about this by skincare specialists as well. I afraid this part is often ignored because of hype and because of well meaning consumers who wish to do the best for their skin; unfortunately they are not always cosmetic specialists.

Paul Penders

From 40 solid years of experience in the NATURAL cosmetic industry, I can safely declare that in some cases an all-natural ingredient works better, is better absorbed, and provide more long-term effects for the skin than their organic counterpart.

We at Paul Penders stand for optimal quality by using safe all-natural ingredients – thus natural ingredients that are not being treated by pesticides as well. We always choose the better from the two worlds. In case a safe, clean, all-natural ingredient performs better on the skin than an organic material, we choose the functionality and use common sense.

We consciously always choose what is best and gives the best  results possible for the greatest benefits for our customers who have trusted us for over four decades. Only the very best, clean and most safe all-natural ingredients are good enough for Paul Penders.

…………

This was part of an extensive exchange of views between Amanda and Paul.

What is your opinion?

Feel free to write your comments. Today, you could for example post your comment below.

Then write more extensively and let it be a part of our book-prize competition. There are two great book-prizes to be won.

Mail your contribution to the contest to win-a-book@paulpenders.com.

Last day for contributions is Monday, August 31, 2009.

Tags: Amanda McGillivray, organic food has no nutritional benefits, paul penders, Paul Penders Newsletter, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, The Natural Skincare Company, wasting money on organic