Which is healthier? Raw or Organic

[ginkgo]

I was at Whole Foods and could not get both. I had a choice of freshly squeezed orange juice with the enzymes and the pesticides in it or organic orange juice (pasteurized) without the pesticides and enzymes. I chose the fresh juice since I figured that where you do not eat the skin of the fruit has less pesticides than fruits where you do eat the skin. Which do you think is healthier? Note the fresh juice is like taking oranges and juicing them yourself.

I also bought organic oranges to eat.

[Curtis2011]

The raw-er, the better.

[votoshka]

I think raw beats organic... besides they're oranges... the pesticides will be on the outside only, and you're getting the juice!

Still, my research leads me to believe that fresh raw food is better than organic if you can't get fresh and raw.

[Andrew Gubb]

I eat raw but not organic. I know it's not optimal but at least I'm also eating fruit rather than grains or potatoes etc.

I think raw is better than organic and cooked. The plant SURVIVES the pesticides. But if you cook it, it's dead.

[Andrew Gubb]

should also mention that many, if not the larger portion of people who went raw and experienced massive health improvements ate non organic. I don't know if I've ever heard a success story on par with that for people who simply went 100% organic. and if you think about it, commercial interests would be VERY happy about stories like that. we wouldn't not hear about it.

I mean no cure for diabetes, cancer, crohn's etc with just organic. Just raw, yes.

[ginkgo]

Thanks, I will make sure to get the freshly squeezed orange juice.

[Cable]

My preference would be for an orange; fruit juice is basically sugar water with a few vitamins, i.e., only marginally better than Coke. If you need extra hydration, drink water or tea. Getting off the SAD addiction to drinking calories is one of the healthier things I've done for myself.

Vitamin C is one of the more vulnerable nutrients to heating, and is one of the things orange juice is supposed to be good at, so I think if you must drink orange juice, raw is probably more important than organic. (With broccoli, the research indicates that many nutrients become much more bioavailable when it's lightly cooked, so I don't think "raw is more important than organic" generalizes to everything. But as a general rule, I don't eat things I couldn't eat raw.)

[Andrew Gubb]

My preference would be for an orange; fruit juice is basically sugar water with a few vitamins,

depends. freshly squeezed, unadulterated orange juice is almost as healthy as plain oranges.

[goldberg]

Both are marketing terms which have very little meaning. Excuse me while I go drink my vitamin water(tm)

[stanmrak]

This does not have a definitive answer... too many variables. Organic produce in general has more nutrients. Phytonutrients are lost in pasteurization. Certain plants have more pesticides than others, etc.
The consequences of eating pesticides and herbicides won't show up for years — maybe decades, like when a tumor shows up and they can't tell you what caused it, or you develop allergies or something else.