All About Food: What’s so super about ‘super’ foods?

They are a fountain of youth, a cure-all, a panacea; they can make you smarter, more beautiful, thinner; they can improve your memory, your eyesight and fight cancer.

What are they? SUPERFOODS!

At least that’s what the advertising world would have us believe. There is no scientific definition of the term but it certainly has become a buzzword of late. If you look on the Internet or on magazines racks you can find lists of supposed life changing foods”¦ top five, top 10, top 20 with no two lists being alike but all claiming that these foods have virtually magical health-giving properties.

Some that appear frequently are açai berries, salmon, green foods, blueberries, nuts, flax seeds, red wine, green tea, avocados, yogurt, beans, whole grains, the alliums (onions, garlic, shallots etc.), sweet potatoes and pomegranates. Then there are apricots, cinnamon, eggs, kiwis, quinoa, cherries, hot peppers and sprouts, etc.

So what’s the real deal? It begins to sound like a list of every healthy food you can name. We would all like a magic potion, one that would guarantee us a long healthy life while we lounged on the sofa watching TV, popping blueberries. Well, it ain’t gonna happen! Foods are not pharmaceuticals. Genes, as well as exercise and low stress for example, are also crucial to longevity.

There is no question that fruits and vegetables are healthy and some are healthier than others, in particular foods that are high in antioxidants, and phytochemicals including flavonoids.

Foods high in antioxidants are especially helpful in combating free radicals, which are harmful molecules that damage cells and can contribute to aging, heart disease and cancer.

These include black currants, strawberries, and red and yellow peppers. Phytochemicals act in other ways to protect against disease. New research suggests they may be even more important than antioxidants alone. These are found in blueberries, white onions, carrots, green and black tea, soy and kale, etc. This very short list shows one glaring fact “” a variety of colored foods, the so-called “rainbow diet” is the way to go.

Esoteric produce found in far off jungles like açai and goji berries are “berry” expensive, unregulated and have a heavy carbon footprint. Also, they are not fresh because they lose dramatic amounts of their nutrients the minute they are picked.

Therefore they must be flash frozen or dried and there are concerns about the use of pesticides in their countries of origin “” China and Brazil. Blueberries, on the other hand, are now grown in California, so why not choose them instead? Actually, farmers are falling all over themselves trying to grow unsprayed goji berries in the U.S. in commercial quantities, but no success yet.

Lots of claims have been made for the health benefits of açai and it has now been proclaimed a weight loss miracle, but scientific studies are lacking at this time. Also, overindulgence or exclusivity in any one food can be harmful to your health. For example soy, which is healthy in moderation, became a craze and people were overeating it, causing problems with mineral absorption, the thyroid and raising concerns about a link to breast cancer.

In another instance, red wine is now one of the superfoods because it contains resveratrol, which is considered to be anti-aging. So how much red wine do we need to drink to get a significantly rejuvenating dose?

Dr. David Sinclair of Harvard Medical School says, “1,000 bottles a day,” based on his studies with mice. Of course, there are now resveratrol supplements on the market but caveat emptor, there are no scientific studies of their long-term effects on humans. What we can say with certainty is that 1,000 bottles a day won’t contribute to your longevity.

So, in our attempt to find a reasonable and reliable voice on the subject, someone who is not peddling pills or selling anything except health, we turned to Melanie Silverman, who lives and practices in Laguna.

She is a pediatric nutritionist and registered dietitian who says there is no superfood or even a group of them.

Silverman is concerned that food fads narrow our focus. If she had to make a list of superfoods, it would probably include at least 40 different nutrient-dense items, although she does think that promoting superfoods can point us in a healthy direction.

However, even if you ate nothing but the “top 10 superfoods,” you would still not be eating a well-balanced healthy diet.

We have a long way to go before we understand how foods interact with one another.

Her mantra is, “Rotate your foods; eat from a large variety, even going so far as to rotate brands. Don’t eat anything every day.”

Of course, she feels that fresh is best and buying local is preferable.

“Be a label reader. Less is more.” Long lists of ingredients usually include unpronounceable mystery items that are not actually food.

“Buy whole grain bread, which has real fiber, not whole wheat because insoluble fiber in the form of inulin is often added and it’s useless. Avoid trans-fats and any artificial stuff such as dyes, aspartame and other diet products.”

As a pediatric specialist, Silverman says kids can eat pretty much anything after the age of 4, but because of potential allergic reactions or choking risks, their early diet should not include peanuts, tree nuts or shellfish and milk intake should be restricted to 16 ounces per day.

“Send children out to play for vitamin D.” Although Silverman is not in favor of supplements, feeling that nutrition should come from real food, she considers a multi-vitamin good insurance. She says, “Go to the farmer’s market; it’s my vitamin cabinet.”

The term “superfood” is a marketing ploy and new ones are being added to the list every day.

By the same token, so are the so-called superfood supplements.

Sales of these foods have increased dramatically but it is important to understand that no food is super on its own “” even if certain foods have more nutrients than others, it is still essential to eat from as wide a range as possible.

To reach Silverman with your own nutrition questions, e-mail her at [email protected].

ELLE HARROW and TERRY MARKOWITZ owned A La Carte for 20 years. They can be reached for comments or questions at [email protected]