Nourishment: Superfoods
[Exploring Life] What is a superfood? The promise of superfoods seems to originate in the idea that some types of food are unusually rich in nutrients and therefore must confer greater benefit to our health. In addition, a superfood is often considered be a natural medicine, or nutriceutical, that promote healing. The evidence for superfoods originates in nutritional science as well as anthropological field work that correlates a specific type of diet to a low incidence of disease in specific communities. The hope of superfoods lies in the provision of food to the general population that helps to decrease the incidence of illness and disease in society.
If a food is deemed to be “super” then it is in some manner of superior quality with respect to the health benefits it provides. Nutritionism is, however, a slippery slope and is frequently inexact and sometimes completely incorrect. The notion that we can isolate nutrients and take them as artificial supplements is far from being a precise science. In our food, nutrients exist in interrelationship with one another in their natural form. In a pill, nutrients are isolated in a kind of artificial reality. Eating food that is of superior nutritional value is better than ingesting artificial nutrients in pill form liquid form. However, the destruction of the environment as well as mass food production practices has only served to decrease the nutritional value of our food supply, and as a result we experience more illness and disease. Superfoods may be an inviting concept that allows us to inspire and reanimate our relationship with food.
Superfood is superior food. Fast food is food eaten quickly that often has a detrimental effect on our health. Fast food is merely a symptom of a neurotic society that embraces speed and efficiency as a mode of existence. Fast food producers denigrate the experience of eating into a bog of mindless commercialism that does little to promote health in society. Fast food is inferior food.
Superfood is an emerging concept that awaits clear definition. It is important that we approach the idea of superior food with creativity and imagination. Our relationship with food is an intimate one: what we eat we become. The quality of food we ingest is directly reflected in the quality of our physical and mental well-being. When we eat inferior forms of food over extended periods of time we sacrifice our vibrancy and resilience. Superfood, or superior food, is a reminder that food is a sanctuary, a source of healing, and a deeply intimate and sacred bond with the natural world. Our body, mind and spirit are immersed and inspired by the food we eat.
Understanding the nature of superfood requires an integrated perspective that acknowledges history, cultural anthropology, science and spirituality. In this sense, superfood is an integrative idea that draws from a variety of sources. The following attributes of superfood provide a foundation:
- A naturally occurring food source that is exclusively organic and non-GMO.
- A food that confers superior health benefits.
- A food that confers remarkable healing benefits.
- A food that is sourced and produced ethically and sustainably.
- A food that has a history of therapeutic or functional use.
- A food that respects our sacred bond with the earth and all other forms of life
These attributes are quite general in nature and can be sued to create endless lists of foods that are granted the title of superfood. The news media are fond of producing recommended lists of “superfoods” that we should eat because of their nutritional value. Quite often convenient superfood recipes are included. This is a common yet unimaginative and uninspiring approach to the idea of superfood:
- Top 10 superfoods: Goji berries, cinnamon, turmeric and more;
- 5 (Super) Foods You Should Eat;
- “Super”foods Everyone Needs;
- Eight Superfoods To Make You Super Healthy;
In Superfoods David Wolfe defines three food classes: a) Food – natural, organic whole foods including common vegetables, fruits, seeds, and sprouts; b) Superfoods – a class of the most potent, super-concentrated, and nutrient rich foods on the planet; and c) Medicinal Herbs – food that has specific medicinal properties and uses (Wolfe 2009). He identifies superfoods as the most important class of food.
Wolfe has a more creative and inspiring orientation to superfoods. He provides the following attributes of a superfood:
- Foods that have a dozen or more unique properties, not merely one or two;
- The most potent, super-concentrated, and nutrient rich foods on the planet;
- Meets or exceeds all of our protein, mineral, antioxidant, good fats and oils, essential amino acids, vitamins, enzymes, coenzymes, polysaccharides, immune system, essential fatty-acid, and glyconutrient requirements;
- Corrects dietary imbalances;
- Ease into natural detoxification of the body;
- Provide deep levels of nutrition beyond common organic whole foods;
- Are a 100% clean, hormone-free, pesticide-free, natural food source;
- Completely eliminate the need to take vitamin and mineral supplements;
- Provide an abundance of natural synergistic elements for nutrition (an area poorly understood by nutritional science);
- Consumed in a living, raw, organic form.
Wolfe’s top ten superfoods are:
- AFA blue-green algae
- Aloe Vera
- Bee Products (honey, pollen, propolis, and royal jelly)
- Cacao
- Coconuts and coconut products
- Goji Berries
- Hempseed
- Maca
- Marine Phytoplankton
- Spirulina [4]
In combination, these three classes of food form the foundation for designing principles of healthy eating as well as using food as medicine. Superfoods are not a total diet and they are not intended to replace “normal” food, they are a separate class of food. In Wolfe’s system, superfoods are the “most important” class of food since they possess the most concentrated natural sources of nutrition “on the planet.”
There are several assumptions the lie at the core of superfoods:
- Natural, whole, non-GMO, organic plants are the most essential and beneficial type of food on the planet;
- Processed, refined, and otherwise human-manipulated food products are not real food;
- There are specific plant-based foods that are significantly richer in nutrients than others. In other words, some foods are more essential to health and healing than others;
- Historical and cultural experience with natural plant-based foods is at least as important in understanding the scientific value of a superfood;
- Indigenous cultures, less advanced in allopathic medical technology have as much, if not more, to offer health and medicine;
- Educational systems must provide students with a strong foundation for making informed choices about the food they eat;
- Eating organic, non-GMO, chemically free, natural and locally-produced whole food must become a universal human right.
The superfood movement should not merely be a movement focused on defining a specific class of food, though this is an important goal. It is a movement about the cultural transformation of our beliefs and traditions surrounding the complex relationships and interconnections that exist between food, the survival of the earth, human health and well-being, medicine and medical intervention, and ethical corporate and government initiatives.
For the average consumer, there is an obvious attraction to eating foods that may improve health and prevent disease. For the marketer, a superfood represents an opportunity to sell products through the promotion powerful health claims. From the government’s perspective, a superior health claim is the underlying prerequisite of any superfood. It is therefore important to understand the nature of any health claim being made. Health Canada provides the following definition of a health claim:
A health claim is any representation in labeling or advertising that states, suggests, or implies that a relationship exists between consumption of a food or an ingredient in the food and a person’s health.
- Health Canada – Food and Nutrition – Food Labelling – Health Claims
In the U.K. we wee a similar approach:
General claims about benefits to overall good health, such as ‘healthy’ or ‘good for you’, will be only allowed to be used if accompanied by an appropriate and approved claim. This means that more general claims must be backed up by an explanation as to why the food is ‘healthy’ or what makes it a ‘superfood’.
- Food Standards Agency: Health Claims
Similarly, the European Union has in fact banned the use of the term “superfood” unless clear evidence can be provided:
The new EU legislation will ban the use of the term superfood unless it is accompanied by a specific authorised health claim that explains to consumers why the product is good for their health.
- BBC News: Superfood ‘ban’ comes into effect
Our relationship with food has deteriorated and is now quite fragile. We treat food and food sources as if they were nothing more than a commodity. Food is a direct extension of our relationship with all life on this planet, and it is clear that our relationship with the natural world is dysfunctional. We are often highly destructive and frequently inhumane in our pursuit of food sources. A great deal of the food we produce is not really food in any meaningful sense of the word. The marketing of food creates the illusion of lifestyle in the absence of substance. The vacuous advertising campaigns of food corporations treat us as if we were complete idiots.
If we bring creativity and imagination to the emergence of superfood, then perhaps we can discover ways to reanimate and recover our relationship with the planet. If we reduce superfood to lists of nutrients and recipes then we assimilate it into the status quo. Perhaps it is time renew our approach to food, and stimulate a new relationship with each other as well as the world that sustains our presence.