For these five staples, choosing organic over cheap and processed varieties has real health benefits.

1 Milk
Organic milk seems a bit of a luxury when it costs more than your normal pint, but there are a host of health benefits. Organic milk is naturally higher in omega-3 essential fatty acids, Vitamins A and E, and certain other antioxidants than non-organic milk, according to Rachel’s Organic, a company that produces organic yoghurt and milk products.

The biggest concern with non-organic milk is the chemicals that the cow could pass on through its feed. One of these is the pesticide lindane, which has been linked to breast cancer. Karen Sullivan, author of Organic Living (£14.99, Piatkus Books) says that organic milk will contain virtually no pesticides. ‘Organically raised cows graze on pastures that have not been treated with pesticides or fertilisers. This means fewer, if any, residues exist in their milk,’ she says.

2 Fruit and veg
When most of us think of organic produce, we think of fruit and veg that have been grown without pesticides or fertilisers. Studies have shown that choosing to eat this kind of produce can have a host of real health benefits. In fact, many of us are growing our own so that we know exactly how they are treated and what goes into the soil, too.

A 10-year study comparing organic tomatoes with rival produce suggests they have almost double the amount of flavonoids – antioxidants that protect the heart. According to the study’s findings, levels of quercetin and kaempferol (types of flavonoids) were found to be on average 79% and 97% higher, respectively, in organic tomatoes.

Organic carrots are also believed to taste better than non-organic ones, according to Guy Watson, founder of Riverford Organic. ‘While food safety – and particularly the avoidance of pesticides – often heads the list of motivations for new organic buyers, in my experience this is soon supplanted by flavour. Our customers consistently cite flavour as the main reason for buying organic; and carrots are the vegetable they use most often as an example,’ he says.

3 Meat and chicken
River Cottage chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has been a strong voice against the mistreatment of animals in the production of meat and chicken for consumers.

‘Do you imagine that your personal meat-eating habit, extrapolated to a national level, might put undue pressure on farmers to produce mountains of cheap meat of dubious quality, by dubious means?’ he asks on his website www.rivercottage.co.uk

Methods used in organic farming are a more responsible and respectful way to rear animals, according to the website www.meateat.co.uk Intensive farming uses the cheapest available feed, the smallest available space and the shortest available life in order to maximise profits.

Organic farming is far slower than that. People who own and run organic farms tend to appreciate the life of an animal more, respect their day to day conditions and ensure they are killed with respect, too.

Their food is not pumped full of additives or water. So while there are no proven nutritional benefits to eating organic meat, it does tend to be more naturally tender, with a better texture, as the animals will have had a more stress free life.’

4 Bread
Bread and pasta made from normal flour is usually full of pesticides. This is because conventionally-farmed grains are heavily sprayed with toxic chemicals, according to organic expert Karen Sullivan.

Tests by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) found that 44% of all bread samples contained pesticide residues. One herbicide called glyphosate is linked with the cancer non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and was found in 7% of the samples.

Heavily-processed breads have a much shorter fermentation process than organic breads, according to Real Bread campaigner Andrew Whitley. ‘There are also a lot of hidden additives not included on the labels that are in there to keep it soft and squidgy,’ he says. ‘Ideally, bread needs a fermentation time of a minimum of four hours. If you let dough ferment for a minimum of four hours, that’s when all the good stuff starts to come out. The fermentation time for processed bread can be zero hours, it’s called ‘no time dough’; it’s popped straight in the tin and the most amount of time it has to ferment in the tin can only be 20 minutes.’

5 Wine
On the increase and becoming much more widely available is organic wine, which is wine made from organically grown grapes. Although this doesn’t mean the other ingredients you find in wine are necessarily organic as well.

According to UK Energy Saving, it is usually processed using the minimum of chemical intervention during the production process but there is still no agreed standard for this.

A Health Which? report discovered that organic red wine was superior in taste to many non-organic reds and anecdotal evidence shows organic alcoholic drinks are less likely to produce hangovers, too.

Photographs: getty images