Natural vs. Organic
Thursday, November 19th, 2009
Ooooooh! “Natural” products. “Natural” has been getting a lot of play lately, seeing that the world’s gone green and all. But ‘natural’ isn’t new; it’s not exactly breakthrough science. You are natural. I am natural; well at least we were born that way. The earth is natural, and has been for kazillion of years. Cyanide is natural; doesn’t mean that you want to eat it, or rub it on your skin.
A natural substance is one that exists in nature, and it was not created by humans in a laboratory. Not that some natural substances, flavours for example, cannot be reproduced in a lab, but ‘natural’ substances can be found, in their original state, in nature.
There is a myth that natural substances do not contain chemicals. By golly yes they do. All products contain chemicals of some sort; most chemicals used to produce cosmetics and skin care products are derived from plants.
Natural extracts and substances are groups of chemicals. Some chemicals may irritate skin and can even be fatal yes, like those found in poison ivy, but not all chemicals do. It is estimated that over one-third of all drugs are derived from plants.
The label ‘Natural’ does not mean that the product isn’t:
- fatal
- carcinogenic (cancer causing)
- irritating to skin
- foul smelling
- safe or that it doesn’t contain harmful pesticides.
A product need only contain 3% natural products to be labelled ‘natural’. The other 97% could be pure synthesized garbage, complicated names that you can’t pronounce, but it is marketed at natural, for good reason. I mean, would you purchase a product that is labelled “UNNATURAL”? Further more, the 3% of the product that is natural need not be an active ingredient, it could be a filler, like mineral oil. Mineral oil is natural, it is derived from the earth. There are no strict rules whatsoever regarding the composition of natural products.
Though great marketing, ‘natural’ products are not necessarily better or worse than synthetic/ laboratory-synthesized products.
In some cases synthetically made products may be favoured over natural ones, as here there is the advantage of eliminating contaminants found in nature, and stabilizing ingredients with a limited shelf life or those that are photosensitive i.e. are destroyed by sunlight. In this regard, laboratory synthesized manufacturing can offer greater quality control over products that are mass made, travel longer distances or have to withstand extreme temperature changes, hot or cold.
At the same time a lot of expense cuts can be taken and the manufacturer can use a lot of synthetic ‘filler’ products to cut costs. It really depends on the product and the manufacturer. Look at the product label and see what are the first 5 ingredients that the product contains. Do they include Active ingredients? Water? Essential oils? Or are they just all synthetic fillers?
Natural should not be confused with organic.
Products that are labelled organic have to adhere to strict manufacturing, and are heavily regulated. The use of non-organic pesticides, insecticides and herbicides are greatly restricted, however at times certain non-organic fertilizers are still used. Where animals are used they must be raised without growth hormones and antibiotics and generally have a diet that is healthier than either yours or mine.
Usually, organic foods cannot be genetically modified, i.e. the DNA of the food cannot be changed through selective breeding, or genetic engineering for example, which is largely done in plants to make them more resistant to disease. For example, some tomatoes have been gentically modified through the addition of a certain gene that suppresses the natural gene it contains, which makes them soften shortly after harvesting.
As a result, though free of harmful chemicals, the composition organic products are usually smaller, wrinklier, may not be as brightly colored and usually don’t travel well, unless of course you are picking it from your backyard just in time to eat it. The chemical composition/ effectiveness of the ingredients in organic products may also differ slightly from batch to batch.
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Watch your contents.
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Related GC posts
Ingredient Spotlight: Mineral Oil
GMOs : Genetically Modified Foods
Health | Best foods
