A study by Lu et al, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, found a dramatic and immediate decrease in pesticides in children’s urine when they switched to an organic diet.

The researchers found that the levels of metabolites of two organophosphorus pesticides (malathion and chlorpyrifos) decreased to the nondetectable levels immediately after the introduction of organic diets and remained nondetectable until the conventional diets were reintroduced.

Another study, by Curl et al, published in the same journal, found that the median total of organophosphate pesticide metabolite concentration was approximately six times higher for children with conventional diets than for children with organic diets  The dose estimates suggest that consumption of organic fruits, vegetables, and juice can reduce children’s exposure levels from above to below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s current guidelines, thereby shifting exposures from a range of uncertain risk to a range of negligible risk. Consumption of organic produce appears to provide a relatively simple way for parents to reduce their children’s exposure to OP pesticides.