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The health food craze is in full force, and with it comes certain givens such as anything brown is better, Multi-grain has multiple benefits and organic foods are just plain preferable.

The popularity of organic products, in particular, which are generally grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers or routine use of antibiotics or growth hormones, is skyrocketing in the United States, according to the Organic Trade Association. Many consumers are willing to pay a premium for these products as organic foods are often twice as expensive as their conventionally grown counterparts.

However, according to researchers from Standford University, consumers may be getting cheated as there is in fact little to no evidence that organic foods are the healthier choice option.

"There isn't much difference between organic and conventional foods, if you're an adult and making a decision based solely on your health," said Dena Bravata, MD, MS, the senior author of a paper comparing the nutrition of organic and non-organic foods, published in the Sept. 4 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.

In the most comprehensive meta-analysis to date, Bravata and cohorts compared existing studies on organic and conventional foods, finding no strong evidence that supports the opoular notion that organic foods are more nutritious or carry fewer health risks than conventional alternatives.

The only thing they did find was that the consumption of organic foods has a 30 percent reduced the risk of pesticide exposure.

For their study, the researchers sifted through thousands of papers and identified 237 of the most relevant to analyze. Those included 17 studies of populations consuming organic and conventional diets, and 223 studies that compared either the nutrient levels or the bacterial, fungal or pesticide contamination of various products (fruits, vegetables, grains, meats, milk, poultry, and eggs) grown organically and conventionally.

According to a report released by Standford, there were no long-term studies of health outcomes of people consuming organic versus conventionally produced food; the duration of the studies involving human subjects ranged from two days to two years.

Ultimately, experts found no consistent differences in the vitamin content of organic products, and only one nutrient -- phosphorus -- was significantly higher in organic versus conventionally grown produce, which researchers note has little significance since phosphorous deficiency among people is extremely rare.

There was also no difference in protein or fat content between organic and conventional milk, though evidence from a limited number of studies alleged that organic milk may contain significantly higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids.

"Some believe that organic food is always healthier and more nutritious," said Smith-Spangler, who an instructor of medicine at the School of Medicine. "We were a little surprised that we didn't find that.