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01.04.2021

This is the difference between organic and regular zucchinis

Not only bell peppers are a bit healthier when they are grown organically. Zucchinis are also healthier if they come from organic farming than if they are grown on a regular farm.

Study
Klaudia Kopczynska, a Polish food scientist, spent several years analyzing the composition of zucchini grown in Poland. Some of the courgettes were grown according to the principles of organic farming. This means that the growers do not use chemical pesticides and no fertilizers.

Another part of the courgettes was grown in a regular way.

Results
Organic courgettes contained as much vitamin C as regular courgettes. Organic courgettes do contain more phenols. The researchers found more polyphenols, more phenolic acids and more flavonoids in the organic courgettes.

Kopczynska also looked at a few specific phenols. She found more gallic acid, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, quercetin-3-O-rutinoside, and kaempferol-3-O-glucoside in zucchinis grown organically.

Click on the table below for a larger version.

Kopczynska also looked at carotenoids and chlorophyll. These groups of substances were also present in larger quantities in organic courgettes, according to the table above.

This table has also been reduced. Click on it for a larger version.

Conclusion
"Consumers are increasingly searching for high quality foods, rich in health-promoting antioxidants", write the researchers. "Thus, investigating the impact of potential quality-modulating triggers, such as agronomic practices, especially in connection with plant genotype, is of importance."

"The presented study draws attention to courgette as an important source of health-promoting phytochemicals, such as phenolic acids, flavonoids, vitamin C, and carotenoids. It shows a significant variation in the content of selected groups of antioxidants between courgette fruits grown in organic and conventional system, underlying at the same time some significant interactions between the cultivation system and plant varieties."

"It is worth pointing that [...] the vast majority of the measured phenolics shown higher concentrations in organic compared to the conventional courgette fruits, and these trends were similar for both tested varieties."

"This suggests that organic cultivation might be a good method to increase concentration of these bioactive compounds with antioxidant properties in courgette fruits. Considering the very limited number of similar studies on courgette, these results seem to give the very first insights into the characteristics of courgette fruits grown in extensive, organic systems and could thus be of interest for the producers and the consumers."

Source:
Antioxidants (Basel). 2020 May 9;9(5):404.

More:
This is the difference between organic and regular bell peppers 19.03.2021

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More carotenoids in your blood, longer telomeres The more carotenoids from foods like carrots, pumpkins, peppers and kale circulate in your system, the longer you will probably live.	Polyphenols in food extend life expectancy Polyphenols in berries, grapes and lots more stuff you can buy at the greengrocer's do indeed extend life expectancy.	More beta-carotene in your blood, longer life The higher the concentration of this substance in your blood, the smaller the chance that you will prematurely die from cancer, accidents, diabetes or cardiovascular disease.