Berkeley, California - New research out of the Center for Environmental Research and Children’s Health at UC Berkeley shows that switching from conventional to organic fruits and vegetables, even for just a few days, significantly reduces pesticide levels in children’s bodies.

The study, co-led by Asa Bradman, associate director at the center, was spotlighted in the New York Times‘ Well blog this week.

Twenty children in Oakland and 20 in Salinas, all 3 to 6 years old, had their urine tested for 16 days during the study. For the first four, they ate conventional produce, for the next seven their diet was organic, and then conventional for the last five.

The levels of several pesticides that showed up in daily testing dropped by one-quarter to one-half during the organic stretch.

Bradman’s co-leader on the study was Lesliam Quirós-Alcalá, also of CERCH, which is part of the Berkeley’s School of Public Health.