SO, JUST HOW SUPER are SUPER FOODS?
Few health trends have enjoyed the same stratospheric rise as superfoods, but with some nutrition experts still questioning the hype and a lack of concrete legislation, are they really worth the money?
EAT SMART
WORDS VICTORIA JOY
Most of us want to be successful in life, whether it’s acing tests at school or winning employee of the month.So it’s no wonder that, when it comes to healthy eating, we want to reach our peak potential, too.It isn’t enough to eat tasty, satisfying or healthy food – these days, we want superfoods.
The term has fast become synonymous with eating for optimum nutrition and, as a result, safeguarding ourselves against illness, disease and even excess weight gain.It’s mentioned on a daily basis – on food packaging, the Twitter feeds of healthy-eating influencers, and in newspaper articles celebrating nutritional breakthroughs.
That said, how many of us know what the word superfood actually means? According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it’s ‘a nutrient-rich food considered to be especially beneficial for health and wellbeing.’ When it comes to the monitoring of nutritional claims made for food and drink, the Department of Health has responsibility.However, their rules around the use of the term superfood aren’t as clear-cut as they are for other claims.Take ‘low fat’, for example.The EU Register says this claim can only be made of solid products containing no more than 3g of fat per 100g, or liquids containing no more than 1.5g of fat per 100ml.