Hype or Healthy: What is a Superfood?

Hype or Healthy: What is a Superfood?

January 10, 2011, By Amy Carson

The concept of a "superfood" has been promoted since the 1980s, remaining mainly on the fringes of popular culture in the health food community. It wasn't until around 2004 that the word superfoods began appearing on everyone's tongues, when Stephen Pratt, M.D. published the book Superfoods Rx.

A superfood is, by Pratt's definition, a "nutritional powerhouse" food that can help extend your life span and help prevent or reverse some diseases of aging such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, dementia, and certain cancers.

Superfoods are defined by micronutrients (phytonutrients) they are known to contain. While we're all familiar with the major vitamin requirements, Pratt and other scientists believe that micronutrients are the key to good health. You can take a vitamin C supplement, for example, but eating an orange will provide several other micronutrients that the supplement can't give you. The micronutrients food list Pratt concentrates on when selecting superfoods are:

* Polyphenols – Found in tea, nuts, and berries, these act as antioxidants and anti-allergenics.
* Carotenoids – Found in carrots, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkin, apricots, and mangoes, these include beta-carotene, lycopene, and lutein and also function as antioxidants.
* Phytoestrogens – Found in soy, seeds, whole wheat and other grains, and some fruits and vegetables, these are plant estrogens and may help prevent breast and prostate cancer.

The 14 classic superfoods listed below are easy to find and generally inexpensive, so it's easy to fit them into your daily diet.

* Beans – Includes all beans. Aim for 4 1/2-cup servings per week.
* Blueberries – May substitute other berries. Aim for 1 to 2 cups daily.
* Broccoli – May substitute other cruciferous vegetables or greens. Aim for 1/2 to 1 cup daily.
* Oats - Also wheat germ and ground flaxseed, as well as all other whole grains. Aim for 5 to 7 servings a day.
* Oranges – May also use lemons, limes, grapefruit, kumquats and tangerines. Aim for 1 serving daily.
* Pumpkin – Also carrots, butternut squash, orange bell peppers and sweet potatoes. Aim for 1/2 cup on most days.
* Salmon – Wild salmon (avoid Atlantic/farmed). May substitute Alaskan halibut, albacore tuna in cans, herring, sardines, trout, sea bass, oysters and clams. Aim for 2 to 4 times per week.
* Soy – Meaning tofu, soymilk, soy nuts, edamame, miso and tempeh. Aim for 15 grams of soy protein per day.
* Spinach – Also includes kale, collards, Swiss chard, turnip and mustard greens, romaine lettuce and bok choy. Aim for 1 cup steamed or 2 cups raw on most days.
* Tea – Aim to drink 1 or more cups daily.
* Tomatoes – May substitute watermelon, pink grapefruit, persimmons, guava and red-fleshed papaya. Aim for 1 serving per day.
* Turkey – Also skinless chicken breast. Aim for 3 or 4 4-ounce servings per week.
* Walnuts – Also many other nuts and seeds, such as almonds, pistachios, pecans, sesame seeds, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, hazelnuts, cashews and macadamia nuts. Aim for 5 ounces a week.
* Yogurt – Aim for 2 cups daily.

Micronutrient foods don't have to be exotic or expensive. It's better, for instance, to buy locally-grown blueberries than goji berries shipped from the other side of the world. It's also cheaper. The best way to view superfoods is not as some nutritional magic bullet, but rather as a group of very good-for-you, nutrient-dense foods that you ideally want to make a regular part of your diet.