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Equivalent Produce? Major problem.

Posted by kevinfolta on 20 Apr 2013 at 12:58 GMT

Congrats to Ria, now a high school student, on publishing her results. Very good.

One thing to think about in future studies. It is critical that organic and conventional produce be more carefully selected, and not just what is available at Whole Foods. Broccoli is not always broccoli, etc. Not all apples are golden delicious. In other words, until you control for genetic and environmental variables that could radically affect produce content, the legitimate experimental interpretations are extremely limited.

The real test is to compare identical cultivars. This is a huge issue for soybeans were even slight variation in genotype has a profound effect on phytoestrogens, isoflavones and other biologically active compounds.

Another thing you might consider is the post-harvest quality of the produce tested. If they vary in age from picking there again will be substantial differences in content that could easily explain the results seen.

I'm not surprised by Figure 2. Dying flies don't lay eggs. Making a statement about fertility is a little disingenuous.

Overall, a great effort for a student before college and certainly I hope you stay in research. Keep in mind these other important variables, as they could radically skew results (and probably do here). PLoS One did not have this reviewed by an expert in food, maybe just flies.

No competing interests declared.

RE: Equivalent Produce? Major problem.

shrs replied to kevinfolta on 27 Apr 2013 at 03:28 GMT

This paper was peer-reviewed by six reviewers and with two rounds of revision.
Reviewers were experts in Drosophila as well as food and nutrition experts working on animal models including human.

No competing interests declared.

RE: Equivalent Produce? Major problem.

atiretoo replied to kevinfolta on 30 Apr 2013 at 22:14 GMT

Figure 2 does demonstrate increased fertility on the organic diet. The y-axis presents eggs / fly, not total eggs. As flies die, sample size drops, but there can still be a difference. What that means is open to question, for sure, but it is a real observation.

No competing interests declared.