by Alex Bramwell

Created on: September 22, 2010   Last Updated: September 24, 2010

The most conservative definition of a superfood is a food rich in vitamins or antioxidants, high in fiber and low in calories. By consuming it we get a lot of the good and not much of the bad! For the true believer this does not go far enough. Advocates, and marketers, claim that superfoods go much further and actually contain nutrients that boost health beyond the bounds of simple healthy eating.

So, are superfoods the secret to a healthy diet and a long life or are they the latest in a long line of hyped up health fads? Are there foods out there that not only feed us but have to power to regenerate our body. The European Union doesn't think so! In 2007 it banned the use of the word superfood for marketing purposes unless backed up by a specific medical claim supported by credible scientific research.

Part of the problem is that nobody has come up with a definition of exactly what is meant by the term superfood. Since the scientific understanding of nutrition is based around avoiding deficiencies in essential nutrients, the idea that some substances can boost health is radical. It is also pretty unscientific! Many of the properties of the nutrients in superfoods have only worked in a test tube rather than inside the human body.

Let’s look at one superfood in more detail and analyze the claims made on its behalf; the acai berry has been heavily marketed as a miracle berry with exceptional health boosting qualities.

Sellers of acai products quote the incredibly high antioxidant content of the tropical Brazilian berry, actually a palm tree fruit. An independent analysis found that acai has lower antioxidant potency than acerola, mango, strawberry, and grapes. Furthermore, a study by the Centre for Human Nutrition at the David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, found that acai has lower antioxidant potency than pomegranate juice, red wine, Concord grape juice, blueberry juice and black cherry juice.

Sellers also mention the acai berry’s huge oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) score caused by high anthocyanin and flavonoid levels. Both the US Food and Drug Adminstration and European Food Safety Authority have stated that no food compounds other than vitamins A, C and E have been proved with antioxidant efficacy in vivo. This means that while some phytochemicals such as anthocyanin may be powerful antioxidants in the test tube this effect is not duplicated inside the human body. In the US and Europe it is currently illegal to

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