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Chapters
0:00 Introduction
0:32 Salmon
0:46 Blueberries
0:58 Broccoli
1:21 Spinach
1:34 Garlic
1:48 Walnuts
2:03 Avocados
2:24 Sweet potatoes
2:39 tomatoes
2:51 Dark chocolate
superfood is a marketing term for food claimed to confer health benefits resulting from an exceptional nutrient density.[1][2] The term is not commonly used by experts, dietitians and nutrition scientists, most of whom dispute that particular foods have the health benefits claimed by their advocates. Even without scientific evidence of exceptional nutrient content, many new, exotic, and foreign fruits or ancient grains are marketed under the term – or superfruit or supergrain respectively – after being introduced or re-introduced to Western markets.
In 2007, the marketing of products as "superfoods" was prohibited in the European Union unless accompanied by a specific authorized health claim supported by credible scientific research.[3] The term has no official definition by regulatory authorities in major consumer markets, such as the United States Food and Drug Administration and Department of Agriculture or the European Food Safety Authority.[6] It appears to have been first used in a Canadian newspaper in 1949 when referring to the supposed nutritional qualities of a muffin.[2]: 68 In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the term "superfood" was used as a marketing tool for selling specific foods, dietary supplements, foods with selected food additives, and self-help books about fad diets, promising an enhancement to health. "Superfood" products were sold at a higher price than similar foods not marketed with the label.[2]: 71 [7] The purported health benefits and effects of foods described as superfoods are unsupported or disputed by scientific studies.[1]
As of 2007, the marketing of products as superfoods was prohibited in the European Union unless accompanied by a specific authorized health claim supported by credible scientific research.[8] The ruling was a marketing guide issued to manufacturers to assure scientific proof or evidence why a food would be labeled as extra healthy or classified as a superfood.[8] The European Food Information Council stated that it was impractical for people to have a diet based only on superfoods when nutrients are provided readily from a diet based on a diversity of foods, especially a diet including fruits and vegetables.[1]
According to Cancer Research UK, "the term 'superfood' is really just a marketing tool, with little scientific basis to it".[9] Although superfoods are often promoted as preventing or curing diseases, including cancer, Cancer Research UK cautioned that they "cannot substitute for a generally healthy and balanced diet".[9] According to Catherine Collins, chief dietitian at St George's Hospital in London, the term can be harmful: "There are so many wrong ideas about superfoods that I don't know where best to begin to dismantle the whole concept."[10]
Superfruits are a subset of superfoods as first used in 2004.[11][12] The designation of a fruit as a superfruit is entirely up to the product manufacturer, as the term is primarily used to create consumer demand
