A nutrition expert has laid out a few facts around ‘superfoods’. Those working in the food marketing industry can look away now.
We hear a lot about superfoods and their purported benefits but most of us have no idea what the term means - only it makes us want to eat more of whatever's being talked up.
Beetroot, chia seeds, blueberries and goji berries have all been branded superfoods. But is it a load of nonsense or is there some merit in the claims that they should be eaten by you, right now?
It is little wonder the term superfoods is attached to so many products on the market when one considers the example of the so-called superfood acai berries.
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Grown in Brazil, the food was unheard in Europe or the US – indeed unknown anywhere outside Brazil – until around 10 years ago when marketers, followed by the media, branded it a superfood.
Now the profit from their trade globally has been estimated at around €180 million.
We asked top nutrition expert, Alexandra Cremona, for her thoughts on so-called superfoods.
- The term has no scientific basis and remains an ambiguous loophole for marketers to claim an extraordinary health benefit being derived from certain foods.
- The term ‘superfood’ is a widely-used marketing term to describe foods with supposed health benefits, usually through especially high quantities of food compounds such as an antioxidant, fibre or a specific amino acid.
- It’s a collective term to describe biologically active compounds which, in a known quantity, may bring health benefits around the prevention, management or treatment of chronic diseases beyond basic nutrition.
- The growing interest in particular foods that might have a health benefit beyond basic nutrition gave rise to the concept of ‘superfoods’.
- Dieticians now prefer to refer to superfoods as - ‘functional foods’. The use of this term in marketing and packaging has now been regulated to protect the consumer.
- Since the introduction of new health claim laws, companies have had to remove certain claims relating to superfoods from their marketing as they were unsubstantiated.
- The best way to avoid falling for marketing ploys is to establish the source of the claim and make your own online checks on its credibility.
Alexandra Cremona is a qualified dietician as well as sports and exercise scientist. She has provided nutritional advice to trans-Atlantic rowers, triathletes and ultra-marathon distance runners. She remains very involved in sports nutrition and though studying for a PhD in UL, still works with several top individual athletes as well as sports teams.
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