Top nutritionists and chefs discuss the reality behind the superfood phenomenon. By Alex Larman
"There is no official definition of the term 'superfood'." Leading nutritionist Claire Williamson is unequivocal on this point. Reading the health supplements of the papers, this seems amazing; the word 'superfood' appears on a regular basis as a catch-all solution to dietary ills. Eat enough of the approved foods, the reports claim, and all your health worries will be over. Enough 'experts' are brought forward every week for this to seem almost plausible.
"There is no conclusive scientific evidence to prove that superfoods exist", nutritionist Aliya Kamruddin points out. Nonetheless, it's easy to see how the myth originated. Aliya agrees that it's certainly a seductive idea, "If such a food existed, the food would be able to produce health in a person no matter what the rest of their diet constituted. It would need good scientific evidence to back up such a claim." Evidence is currently lacking. There were so many suspicious claims that EU legislation was passed in July 2007 calling for so-called superfoods to give justification for their name. However, this will not come into force until at least 2009, meaning that the need to educate people before then is vital.
There is nothing new about superfoods. As Claire points out; "A complimentary health practitioner called Michael van Straten wrote a book called Superfoods which was first published in the 1970s, so the term was around as far back as then. Originally the term was used for functional foods with health promoting properties over and above their usual nutritional value, such as cholesterol-lowering spreads and fortified foods."
Watch your favourite food shows again, free, for 30 days
Find out what's cooking on Channel 4.jpg)
.jpg)
Your Comments
Post your comment
Please note: In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in to Channel 4:
Sign In Here or Register Here
Comments closed
Comments are closed at the present time
Comments
Thank you for your comment!
Your message will be reviewed and the best ones will be published below.
If you intended to make an official comment to Channel 4 please contact us.