Organic Food Consumption and Risk of Obesity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Recent epidemiological studies have explored the association between organic food consumption and the risk of obesity, but the results remain controversial. A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to determine the association between organic food consumption and the risk of obesity. Rigorous methods for a comprehensive search were employed to search for literature in PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Embase for relevant articles published until 30 November 2021. Pooled odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (Cis) were calculated using a DerSimonian and Laird random-effects model to understand the risk of obesity based on exposure to organic food. Four studies, comprising 104,488 healthy subjects and 39,425 adults who consumed organic food, reported 1625 incident cases of obesity. Compared with the unexposed group, organic food consumption was associated with a lower probability of obesity (OR: 0.89, 95% CI: 0.80–0.97, p < 0.001). Subgroup analysis showed that this association was higher in the cohort (OR: 0.78, 95% CI: 0.63–0.92) than cross-sectional studies (OR: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.91–1.00), respectively. Overall, organic food consumption had a modest reduction (11%) in the risk of obesity and can be an appropriate strategy to prevent obesity.

Evaluation of factors related to organic food consumption and orthorexia nervosa tendencies

“…The exposure to pesticides, antibiotics, and hormones in conventional food production is significantly higher than that in organic foods, and these compounds can increase BMI, abdominal obesity, and insulin resistance (Heindel et al., 2017 ). A meta‐analysis study shows that consumption of organic foods is associated with a lower risk of obesity (Bhagavathula et al., 2022 ). In a cohort study conducted in France, participants with a high frequency of organic food consumption had a lower risk of obesity (Kesse‐Guyot et al., 2017 ).…”

Enhanced Measurement of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Marketing to Young Immigrant Children in Grocery Store Environments

“…It is necessary to mention that only a few studies discussed that consuming organic products might contribute to reduced obesity risk. However, there is still a lack of solid evidence for this and a need to conduct more extensive research for categorizing organic products as healthier items than regular ones [53][54][55][56][57]. In this study, the reason for adding organic beverages to the original NEMS-S was only to assess the availability and affordability of these products within the targeted stores and measure the access of the target immigrant families to these types of beverages.…”

Sustainable diets and risk of overweight and obesity: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…For example, a systematic review by Karavasiloglou et al 18 reported an inverse association between sustainable diets and cancer incidence and cancer‐specific mortality 15 . A systematic review and meta‐analysis by Bhagavathula et al 19 showed that organic food consumption is associated with an 11% reduced risk of obesity. Observational studies revealed that sustainable dietary patterns are associated with decreased risk of overweight and/or obesity 20–22 .…”