Let's Talk Health
Let’s Talk Health is Torrens University Australia's flagship podcast, shining a light on the health and wellbeing topics that matter most to Australians. Hosted by Natalie Cook, Director of Innovation, Industry and Employability in Health and Education, each episode brings engaging conversations with experts from our Health faculty and staff.
We’ll cover mental health, chronic pain, nutrition, naturopathy, ageing and more, delivering evidence-based insights, expert perspectives and practical advice to support informed health choices.
Let's Talk Health
The truth about organic farming | with Dr Liza Oates
In this bonus episode of Let’s Talk Health, host Natalie Cook speaks with Dr Liza Oates about the foundations of organic farming and what makes it different from conventional methods. Dr Oates shares her journey into researching organic food, explains why soil health is at the heart of organic farming, and explores how this impacts both the nutritional value of food and the environment. It’s a fascinating insight into the “why” behind organic practices and what consumers are really investing in when they choose organic.
Curious about the world of Naturopathy and want the opportunity to learn from Dr. Liza Oates? Explore the Bachelor of Health Science (Naturopathy) at Torrens University Australia.
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Hello and welcome back to Let's Talk Health. In this episode, our host, Natalie Cook, Director of Innovation, Industry and Employability, talks to Dr. Liza Oates, naturopath and learning facilitator at Torrens University Australia about her research into organic farming and exactly why it makes organic food so good for you. Now, I think of you as a naturopath, but you're a whole lot more than that.
Natalie Cook:How do you describe the vast amount of things you do? I know wellness is in your DNA. I know you've got a PhD to your name. I think primarily I'm in naturopaths, everything else sort of comes under that banner in some way or another. That's my DNA. Yeah, I love that. Just different expressions of it. And taking an academic path and doing your choosing to do a PhD, it's no small undertaking. What inspired you to do that? And did the inspiration to do your PhD come first, or did the topic find you in that? Yeah, no, it was definitely the other way around. I was teaching at a university before the AQF system came in, and I was teaching into a master's programme, and that meant when AQS came in, I would have to have a PhD to keep my job. My original research was actually going to be looking at detoxinication. And I was travelling through Canada on a train and I met a Mennonite. A menonite. A Mennonite is very similar to Amish, so that I travel by playing. But this guy, Ralph Martin, was a professor at Halifax University and his area was organic. And I was like, ah, the penny dropped. I was like, well, that's what I do when I do a detoxification diet. The base of it is really trying to remove all of the extra chemicals from the patient's diet to make sure that it's as clean as possible and let the body do its work. So that's how I sort of segueed from detoxification diets into organic diets. Interesting. It's sort of a naturopathic 101, right? Like let the body do what it's designed to do. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Support the body's healing systems rather than sort of coming in with big supplements and things like that to try to force toxins out of the body. And I guess it's not just food, it's the only way we ingest through a body, but it's it's the main pathway. It is actually the main pathway, especially for things like pesticides. So, I mean, when you look at how we're exposed to toxins or more accurately, toxic hands, it's primarily through ingestion, so what we eat, inhalation, what we breathe in, so air pollution and things like that, and through the skin, so the cosmetics we use on our skin, you know, all of those sorts of things as well. So they're the three kind of key pathways. When we're talking about organic, we're really talking about certified organic products. So those ones that have actually been audited and follow the national guidelines. So if you talk to an organic farmer about organics, they're not talking about what pesticides or chemicals they're using or not using. They're talking about dirt. And they're like, get very excited about dirt, what's in the dirt. And you know, I think these days we're much more aware of the gut microbiome. But organic farmers are very aware of the soil microbiome. And I guess the basic premise is if you keep the soil healthy, then what grows in the soil will be healthy, and whatever eats what grows in the soil will be healthy. And I guess that's what they say, even about what nutrients are in foods. It's like if the nutrients are not in the soil, yeah, it can't, it's not in the food. That's right. So you've got a country like Australia that's got really, really old soil. Yeah, and especially low in things like zinc and selenium. Um so, yes, if it's not in the soil. I mean, it can be substituted, and you know, there are ways of even organically not just using artificial fertilizers, but of substituting by nurturing the soil and you know, certain techniques to enhance that. But yeah, if it's not in the soil, it's not in the plant. And that's when we're talking, I guess, primarily about minerals. When we're talking about things like phytonutrients, um phytonutrients, the nutrients in plants. So these are the ones that are produced by the plants. So things like vitamins and minerals. So because the plant produces these compounds to defend itself against predators and and these sorts of things, organic plants have a lot more phytonutrients because they have to. Whereas if you're a conventional plant and you're being protected by artificial chemicals, then you don't need to invest your energy in creating these chemicals to protect yourself. So you're saying that because you're asking the plant to the work the plant needs to do rather than protecting with a pesticide or a herbicide or something like that, it ramps up the production of these different chemicals. Organisms are inherently lazy. They don't invest in energy and things that don't need to invest energy and you know. Um so yeah, organic plants will produce a lot more phytonutrients because they need them to defend themselves in the absence of being defended by artificial chemicals. Okay, so the question of you know, are organic foods healthier if the metric is are they more rich in some of these things than they are? Well, they're certainly richer in in the the phytonutrients, yes. Um, questionable about other things. Okay, because that might come back to the soil, say for example. Yeah, it'll come back to the soil and also the um the farming processes generally. So one of the things that will come out in the literature is that organic beef, for instance, might be higher in amoeba-3 and those sorts of things. But that's probably because of differences in farming techniques as well, because they're more likely to be pasture fed rather than grain fed. Sometimes there's a lot of confounding factors in there that sort of make it a little bit difficult to kind of flesh it out. The argument for choosing organic food is is it environmental then as well as a nutritional or it probably is more so. So when I did my research, that was one of the things we looked at. What was the the key driver? So for people who were prepared to invest their hard-earned money in organic food, what was the sort of main driver for them? And their interest in the environment actually came in higher than their interest in their personal health. How interesting. Does the nature of organic farming, whether that's crop or animal farming, does the nature of it make it more expensive to produce the food? And is that why it's much more labour intensive? And you know, uh the way I like to look at it is you get what you pay for. And sure you can produce food cheaper, but I think there are compromises to do land. When I was a kid, you know, food was a much bigger part of the family budget. We've got used to food being quite cheap, and we expect things to be available 24-7. And I I think that's part of the issue that, you know, in order to get that variety of food to us, and there was a lot less variety as well, to get that variety of food to us year-round, certain things have to happen to make that possible. And so that is a price you're paying, it might cost less at the cash register, but there's a price you're paying elsewhere through the efficiencies to get the food production cheaper.
Dr. Liza Oates:Thanks for listening to today's episode. To stay up to date and get more practical, evidence-based tips, hit follow or subscribe wherever you're listening. For more expert insights, search Torrens University blog on Google.
Natalie Cook:And a disclaimer the information discussed in this podcast is for general information purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. The content should not be relied on as a substitute for professional healthcare, and if you have any concerns about your health, please do consult a qualified healthcare professional.
