To study the association between organic food consumption and lifestyle, socio-demographics and dietary habits.

Cohort participants completed detailed questionnaires about organic food consumption, diet and lifestyle between 1999 and 2002. Polytomous logistic regression models were used to estimate the association between organic food consumption, and lifestyle, socio-demographics, and dietary habits.

This cross-sectional study uses data from the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort.

A total of 43 209 men and women aged between 54 and 73 years were included in the study.

Overall, 15 % reported never consuming organic food, 39 % had low organic food consumption, 37 % had medium organic food consumption and 10 % had high organic food consumption. The relative risk of consuming organic food versus never consuming organic food was highest among women, persons with BMI < 25 kg/m2, persons with low alcohol intake, persons participating in sports, persons who did not smoke or were former smokers, and among persons who adhered to the Danish national dietary guidelines. Associations were more distinct with higher levels of organic food consumption.

Based on a historical cohort of Danish adults, organic food consumption was associated with a generally healthy lifestyle, more favourable socio-demographics and dietary habits. These findings have to be considered in the adjustment strategy for future studies linking organic food consumption with health outcomes.

The association between organic food consumption and biomarkers of inflammation, C-reactive protein (CRP) and cystatin C (CysC) was explored in this cross-sectional analysis of older adults.

Dietary data and organic food consumption was collected in 2013 from a FFQ. Alternative Mediterranean diet score (A-MedDiet) was calculated as a measure of healthy eating. Biomarkers CRP and CysC were collected in serum or plasma in 2016. We used linear regression models to assess the associations between organic food consumption and CRP and CysC.

This cross-sectional analysis uses data from the nationally representative, longitudinal panel study of Americans over 50, the Health and Retirement Study.

The mean age of the analytic sample (n 3815) was 64·3 (se 0·3) years with 54·4 % being female.

Log CRP and log CysC were inversely associated with consuming organic food after adjusting for potential confounders (CRP: β = –0·096, 95 % CI 0·159, –0·033; CysC: β = –0·033, 95 % CI –0·051, –0·015). Log CRP maintained statistical significance (β = –0·080; 95 % CI –0·144, –0·016) after additional adjustments for the A-MedDiet, while log CysC lost statistical significance (β = –0·019; 95 % CI –0·039, 0·000). The association between organic food consumption and log CRP was driven primarily by milk, fruit, vegetables and cereals, while log CysC was primarily driven by milk, eggs and meat after adjustments for A-MedDiet.

These findings support the hypothesis that organic food consumption is inversely associated with biomarkers of inflammation CRP and CysC, although residual confounding by healthy eating and socioeconomic status cannot be ruled out.