--- title: Study: Organic Produce Has Fewer Pesticides and More Antioxidants description: New research comes down on the side of organic food, but doesn't make any claims about health effects canonical: https://time.com/2978648/organic-food-pesticides-antioxidants/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-12T18:28:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:06:47.620Z article:section: Science og:title: Study: Organic Produce Has Fewer Pesticides and More Antioxidants og:description: New research comes down on the side of organic food, but doesn't make any claims about health effects og:url: https://time.com/2978648/organic-food-pesticides-antioxidants/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1fcd53041cc8eead/69869b7fe53aba2a8a4d38bd/183743116.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Organic produce og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Study: Organic Produce Has Fewer Pesticides and More Antioxidants twitter:description: New research comes down on the side of organic food, but doesn't make any claims about health effects twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1fcd53041cc8eead/69869b7fe53aba2a8a4d38bd/183743116.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Study: Organic Produce Has Fewer Pesticides, More Antioxidants by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Jul 12, 2014 6:28 PM UTC  Various fresh vegetables and lettuce on wooden surface Various fresh vegetables and lettuce on wooden surfaceGetty Images by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Jul 12, 2014 6:28 PM UTC Organically-grown fruits, vegetables and grains have substantially higher levels of antioxidants and lower levels of pesticides than conventionally-grown produce, according to a [comprehensive review](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/12/science/earth/study-of-organic-crops-finds-fewer-pesticides-and-more-antioxidants-.html) of earlier studies on the matter. Organic crops contain 17 percent more antioxidants than conventionally grown crops, according to the study, to be published next week in the _British Journal of Nutrition_. “It shows very clearly how you grow your food has an impact,” Carlo Leifert, a professor of ecological agriculture at Newcastle University in England who led the research, told the New York _Times_. “If you buy organic fruits and vegetables, you can be sure you have, on average, a higher amount of antioxidants at the same calorie level.” The findings contradict a similar analysis published two years ago by Stanford scientists, who found that there are only minor differences in the nutritional content of organic and conventionally-grown foods. However, the new study does not claim eating organic food leads to better health. However, many studies have suggested that antioxidants have been linked to a lower risk of cancer and other diseases. Organic food purchases accounted for just over four percent of the total food market in the United States last year, or $32.3 billion. \[[_NYT_](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/12/science/earth/study-of-organic-crops-finds-fewer-pesticides-and-more-antioxidants-.html)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2978648/organic-food-pesticides-antioxidants/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2978648/organic-food-pesticides-antioxidants/"},"headline":"Study: Organic Produce Has Fewer Pesticides, More Antioxidants","datePublished":"2014-07-12T18:28:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:06:47.620Z","description":"New research comes down on the side of organic food, but doesn't make any claims about health effects","url":"https://time.com/2978648/organic-food-pesticides-antioxidants/","keywords":["Food"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1fcd53041cc8eead/69869b7fe53aba2a8a4d38bd/183743116.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1fcd53041cc8eead/69869b7fe53aba2a8a4d38bd/183743116.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Organic produce","caption":"Organic produce","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2978648/organic-food-pesticides-antioxidants/","name":"Study: Organic Produce Has Fewer Pesticides, More Antioxidants"}}]}] ```