Organic products: what are the impacts on health and the environment? BioNutrinet is counting on Internet users to cast some light on the subject

The fact that food influences health, whether considering beneficial or adverse effects, is clearly established. Having healthy and safe food originating from production systems that are sustainable, economical in terms of water and energy inputs, and respectful of ecosystems, is a major societal concern. Consumer demand for organic products is thus constantly increasing, with an annual growth in production of over 10%. Consequently, food production from organic farming has increased significantly in recent years, varying from 3 to 20% of the agricultural land area in the European Union countries and 0.6% of the agricultural surface area in the United States.

However, the amount of data available on the reasons motivating the consumption of organic products, on consumer profiles and the impact of organic food consumption on individuals (state of health) and on the environment remains limited.

The only study of its kind in the world

It is in this context that the BioNutrinet study has just been launched. This study, which is a specific part of the Nutri-Net-Santé study, is a world-first by virtue of the number of persons monitored and the method used. For 4 years, 100,000 Internaut volunteers (50,000 organic food consumers and 50,000 non-organic food consumers) are going to be asked to provide regular data on their food consumption and their state of health. A sub-sample of 300 volunteers will undergo biological analyses to establish their nutritional and toxicological status and determine the impact of their eating habits on these points.

The ultimate aim of this vast study is three-fold, namely to answer the following questions:

• Who are the consumers of organic products from the sociodemographic, psychological and economic aspects?
• What reasons motivate their consumption habits?
• What are the impacts of this consumption on the individuals (nutritional and toxicological status, state of health and risk of chronic illnesses, etc.) and on the environment (input of contaminants and environmental impact of eating habits)?

All this information will be of value for guiding public policies.

Multiple skills brought together

To succeed in this task, a broad panel of disciplines (epidemiologists, nutritionists, biologists, economists and agronomists) has been brought together thanks to the collaboration of teams from Inra (French agricultural research institute), Inserm (French health and medical research institute), CNAM (National conservatory of arts and crafts), the Paris 13 University, the Grenoble University Hospital Centre, ITAB (Technical Institute of Biological Agriculture) and the associations Bio Consom’acteurs and Solagro. This specific part of the NutriNet-Santé study receives almost €700,000 funding from ANR under the 2013 edition of the Sustainable Food Systems programme (ALID 2011-2013).

Find out more:

• The BioNutrinet project
  
• The ALID programme
• The NutriNet-Santé study