TEXT A Are organically grown foods the
best food choices The advantages claimed for such foods over conventionally
grown and marketed food products are now being debated. Advocates of organic
foods frequently proclaim that such products are safer and more nutritious than
others. The growing interest of consumers in the safety and
nutritional quality of the typical North American diet is a welcome development.
However, much of this interest has been sparked by sweeping claims that the food
supply is unsafe or inadequate in meeting nutritional needs. Although most of
these claims are not supported by scientific evidence, the greater number of
written material advancing such claims make it difficult for the general public
to sep arate fact from fiction. As a result, claims that eating a diet
consisting entirely of organically grown foods prevents or cures disease or
provides other benefits to health have become widely publicized and form the
basis for folklore. Almost daily the public is surrounded by
claims for "no-aging" diets, new vitamins, and other wonder foods. There are
numerous unsubstantiated reports that natural vitamins are superior to synthetic
ones, that crops grown with organic fertilizers are nutritionally superior to
chose with chemical fertilizers, that untreated grains are better than fumigated
grains, and the like. One thing that most organically grown food
products seem to have in common is that they cost more than conventionally grown
foods. But in many cases consumers are misled if they believe organic foods can
maintain health and provide better nutritional quality than conventionally grown
foods. So there is real cause for concern ff consumers, particularly those with
limited incomes, distrust the regular food supply and buy only expensive organic
foods instead. According to the last paragragh, consumers who believe that organic foods axe better than conventionally grown foods are often ______.