New book to suggest organic foods better for kids - WFLA-TV Newschannel 8

Newly updated book "Foods that harm, foods that heal" suggests that organic produce may be worth higher price for pregnant women and children.

Courtenay Smith is the executive editor of Reader's Digest. She is also the editor of the new version of the book. She used the recent report from Stanford University, a review of two hundred studies, in her research. 

The general conclusion is benefits of organic produce are not proven yet. But children and pregnant women are more vulnerable to man-made pesticides as another study shows.

"When kids stop eating conventional produce, and switch to organic, they can measure in their urine levels that there is a dramatically lower level of pesticides in just five days," she said. "You know, so again, I can't point to a health benefit to that, but my instincts tell me that's a good thing."

You may choose to only buy the organic variety of certain types of foods like strawberries, apples, potatoes, celery. They are sometimes called "Dirty Dozen." The rule of thumb is, if you eat the peal, go organic.

As far as milk goes, skim should always be the first choice. A new study in the journal "Pediatrics" suggests parents should concentrate on giving their kids skim milk regardless of whether it's organic or not, because of hormones.

"The higher the fat levels in the milk, the higher the estrogen content was in the milk. This is true in both organic and non-organic," Smith said.