Superfood Silliness. Don't believe the hype.

[HuckleB]

http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/superfood_silliness

"Someone is always trying to tell us what to eat. It’s like religions: they can’t all be right, and they might all be wrong. One of the most pervasive food myths is the idea of “superfoods,” the belief that certain foods are particularly good for us.

Obviously some foods have more of certain nutrients than others, but the idea of “superfoods” is just silly. No food is a perfect source of all nutrients. Yes, spirulina (blue-green algae) has an impressive array of nutrients; but spinach has even more.

...

Gayelord Hauser claimed that five wonder foods would add years to life: skim milk, brewer’s yeast, wheat germ, yogurt, and blackstrap molasses. Cider vinegar has been promoted as a cure-all that keeps the body in balance, thins the blood, and aids digestion. Wheat grass is said to cleanse the body, neutralize toxins, slow the aging process, prevent cancer, and supplement body enzymes with plant enzymes. I’ve never tried it, but it looks putrid and I’ve been told it tastes even worse than it looks. “Anti-inflammatory” foods like kelp, blueberries, shiitake mushrooms, and wild Alaska salmon supposedly counteract heart disease, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer, and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. The scientific evidence doesn’t support any of those claims.

...

Superfood lists disagree with each other and can include as many as 200 foods. If these were all superfoods, almost all foods would be superfoods, making the concept meaningless. So many healthy foods are left off the lists that you could eat a healthy diet while avoiding everything on the lists. Believe it or not, raw meat contains every essential nutrient, even vitamin C, which is destroyed when meat is cooked. For obvious reasons, I wouldn’t recommend a raw meat diet.

..."


-----------------------------------------------------


Yup.

[MineralMan]

1. Kale. Just eat Kale and only Kale.

Yes, indeed. Kale is the true superfood. Eat some today!

[SheilaT]

2. No, no.

Chocolate and red wine, those are the superfoods. Can't possibly have too much of either!

[MineralMan]

4. Red wine gives me a headache, but chocolate is good. I recommend

Kale braised in red wine, then lightly coated with chocolate, for you. A full, complete meal, for sure.

[SheilaT]

14. Then may I have all of your red wine? Please?

I also consider champagne to be one of the basic food groups, so if you have any you're not planning on drinking, just give me a holler.

[MineralMan]

15. Neener, neener. I don't have any red wine.

But I have champagne, and it's all for ME!

[SheilaT]

16. Selfish!

[cyberswede]

3. Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

[HuckleB]

6. Harriet Hall's adjustment is even better.

Eat a variety of foods. Not too much. Mostly plants.

From: https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/whats-for-dinner/

And, of course, if only Pollan didn't go to extremes in other areas.

[cyberswede]

9. Yeah - the "variety" is implied, but better to be articulated.

[WinkyDink]

5. Chef Jamie Oliver is about this now. His #1 S-F is seaweed. Bleagh!

[HuckleB]

7. That guy is all about fear.

http://sciblogs.co.nz/molecular-matters/2012/02/12/jamie-oliver-peddling-chemophobia/

[Rex]

8. Great, next you will be telling me cramming 6,000 vitamins a day down my throat is not helping!

[Prism]

10. Leave acai alone!

You will pry that $3,000 bag of gerbil turds from my cold, dead hands.

[One_Life_To_Give]

11. Beer!

Beer is the one true super-food



Cause when I drink beer, I become Superman!

[Retrograde]

12. Chlorophyll is the first food fad I remember

Well, remember reading about: in the 1950s manufacturers put chlorophyll in all sorts of foods and health products (in case people wanted to synthesize their own nutrients, I suppose); it did little except make things green.

I once heard an advertisement for a wheat grass drink that boiled down to "It tastes better than you'd expect it to". I feel the same way about green smoothies: if I want to eat kale and spinach and fruit I'll eat them separately and enjoy them that way, thankyouverymuch. And I prefer my algae in the form of nori, with sushi.

[Gormy Cuss]

17. "Superfoods"= marketing hype.

Last edited Fri Sep 25, 2015, 07:52 PM - Edit history (1)

It's all about selling your diet/nutrition plan or creating buzz for a new or under-appreciated fruit or vegetable.

But the author oversimplifies here:

If you are eating a varied diet with an emphasis on plant foods, you are probably already getting all the nutrients you need, and there is no advantage to ingesting more. Excess amounts beyond what the body can use will just be excreted. Superfoods are silly, but Mom was right: eat your vegetables!

We excrete excess water-soluble nutrients quickly. Other nutrients are stored in our fat and excess quantities can cause problems. Carotenosis, while benign, will turn your skin orange until your body works out the excess vitamin A from carrots and other veggies. Eating a lot of animal liver, particularly from critters like moose and seal, can cause vitamin A toxicity because your own liver can't process the nutrient fast enough.

[HuckleB]

18. You have to work pretty hard to do that, however.

Most vitamin A toxicity is because of supplement use.

[Gormy Cuss]

19. The point was, the doctor who authored your link ignored the difficulty of excreting excess amts

of fat-soluble vitamins. And yes, in a typical American diet it's hard to reach toxic A levels because most of us don't eat lots of bear or seal livers or drink cod liver oil every day, but in some North American diets acute toxicity is a real possibilty especially in children.

Much more common is orange tinted skin from too much beta carotene.

[mythology]

20. So you're saying John Boehner ate a lot of carrots?

[Gormy Cuss]

21. Believe me, I was thinking of him when I posted

but his appears to be caused by tan in a bottle.