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A few nutritionists dismiss the organic-food cult as nonsense. Thomas Jukes, professor of medical physics at the University of California at Berkeley, says that "the movement is dangerous to the consumer because, by misrepresenting science, it brings about a mistrust of the entire food supply." Others see it as a harmless search for nutritional peace of mind.
East River Pop. The majority of nutritionists, though no aficionados of the organic themselves, believe that the trend is beneficial. Jean Mayer, a professor of nutrition at Harvard's Graduate School of Public Health as well as a presidential adviser, thinks that the organic movement has increased public awareness of the chemicals that have become regular ingredients of processed foods. Such knowledge, he feels, has been at least partially responsible for the banning of cyclamates, artificial sweeteners used in soft drinks, and diethylstilbestrol (DES), a synthetic hormone-like substance added to cattle feeds. Both have been linked with cancer in humans. Says he: "Some commercial soft-drink labels read like a qualitative analysis of the East River." He stresses, however, that since the first White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health in 1969, there has been a more thorough review of additives. In fact, in discussing the contents of soft drinks, he expressed more concern about their nutritive benefits than their additives.
The organic-food movement has also helped to make consumers more conscious of their general diet and led many people to read the labels of the products they buy. Such scrutiny can be important. Example: a look at the label on a soup can reveals that one of the primary ingredients is salt, something that many with severe hypertension could do well to avoid.
The health-food explosion is only one manifestation of Americans' new interest in nutrition. Many, feeling that no foods can provide them with all the nutrients they need, gobble daily doses of vitamins and other dietary supplements that they believe hold the key to good health. Sales of vitamins have been increasing. A decade ago, vitamins brought the nation's pharmaceutical houses a total of about $300 million; this year, vitamin manufacturers are estimated to gross almost $500 million.
Magic Bullet. Vitamins are unquestionably important to health. A lack of vitamin A, contained in green, leafy vegetables and whole milk, can cause night blindness. Shortages of the various B vitamins, contained in milk, meat and some grains, produce such deficiency diseases as pellagra and beriberi. A deficiency of vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, a substance found in citrus fruits and some fresh vegetables, can result in scurvy. Rickets, a disease caused by calcium deficiency that produces bone deformities, can result from a lack of vitamin D.