The Curious Case Of Superfoods

Do you feel tempted to click on an alert saying here are the “Top 10 Superfoods” or “Power Foods” that will help you avert the risk of a heart attack or diabetes? Well, it turns out most of us, if not all, choose to follow our hearts and have read about superfoods and their health benefits at some point in our lives. With more people becoming conscious of their health, the notion of superfoods being loaded with nutrients and antioxidants becomes naturally appealing. 

Random articles and blogs on the internet promote superfoods with exclusive abilities to reduce weight or heal a disease. Scientifically there is no said definition for superfoods, but commonly a food gets the superfood medal when it offers high levels of nutrients, and possesses the qualities to avert diseases or provides several health benefits together.

Interestingly, the term “superfood” was first coined during World War I as a food marketing tactic by an American company which went by the name The United Fruit Company. The company deployed an aggressive advertising campaign to boost sales of its most popular product — bananas — with informational pamphlets that suggested adding bananas to the diet of a healthy living individual from breakfast to dinner. 

Evidently, what actually changed the game were the studies which furthered the marketing of the term, as physicians went on publishing findings of a banana diet and its benefits in treating celiac disease and diabetes. This led to a soaring trend in its sales and even the American Medical Association announced that adding bananas to a child’s diet helped in curing or providing relief for celiac disease.

Fast forward to 2022, superfoods still equate to supersales, and aggressive advertising and marketing food campaigns and supportive studies still yield the desired results for giant companies. 

In the modern age where content spreads at an immense speed, a superfood arrives almost every month on one’s smartphone screens, but is it a reliable one? Experts say that one should focus on a ‘superplate’, which comprises a balanced diet inclusive of green vegetables, fruits, fibre, vitamins, minerals and carbohydrates among other nutrients than basing all our hopes on a particular superfood which might not perform the miracles as per its claims. 

The Superfood Market

According to recent surveys, consumers are ready to shell out more money on a product if it is perceived as healthy, and health claims on labels might further this perception. Intriguingly, the foods which are believed to be healthy and also carry a health claim show the best results in sales. Experts believe this is possible as added information confirms a consumer’s existing knowledge of healthy food, making them more likely to pay for it. 

The surveys have also demonstrated that most respondents consider food as medicine and eat some foods to shut out diseases and health problems like obesity, hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol. As per a Mintel report, in 2015 there was a 36 per cent rise in the foods and beverages which were labelled as ‘superfood’. 

The global superfoods industry touched $152.7 billion in size in 2021, as per a report by the IMARC Group. The report predicts the market to expand to $214.95 billion by 2027 growing at a CAGR of 5.74 per cent during  2022 to 2027. 

Experts note that as the prevalence of lifestyle ailments like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases rise, the demand for superfoods will also expand. The surging obesity rates in all parts of the world coupled with increasing awareness for various healthy foods is set to further aid the growth prospects of superfoods in times to come. 

What Do We Know So Far?

Over the years various studies have validated the cause of superfoods. For instance, studies reveal that flax seeds and chia seeds have high levels of omega-3 fatty acids and hemp and sunflower contain greater amounts of Omega-6 fatty acids. Omega fatty acids are polyunsaturated fat found in food or food supplements that the body requires to function effectively.

The said superfoods (flax seed, chia seeds, hemp, and sunflower, among others) are hyped in the media to have a large number of health benefits, but these claims are hardly backed by any strong scientific research.

Pre-clinical studies (research on animals) have shown that flax seeds have aided in protecting genomic DNA against damage and minimised intracellular in V79 Chinese hamster pulmonary fibroblasts. Whereas in diet-induced fat rats, chia seed oil showed anti-inflammatory results reducing the severity of rheumatoid arthritis. 

Similar studies have also revealed systemic glucose and insulin tolerance in rats. Research on sunflower seeds has also demonstrated their antioxidant, antidiabetic and antimicrobial properties, among other health effects.

A recent Australian study published in PubMed in November 2021, by lead authors Jacqueline P. Barsby and James M. Cowley from Waite Research Institute Adelaide, South Australia said that the previous researchers on superfoods have used high temperatures and harsh solvents in their methods which may not necessarily replicate what can be extracted in a human body after taking these superfoods.

The study titled “Nutritional properties of selected superfood extracts and their potential health benefits” by the Australian authors used a mild aqueous extraction method and a human body temperature noting that superfoods may indeed have some health benefits that they are lauded for. As the study observed increased cell viability in both cell lines with increasing concentrations of the flax seed, chia seed or hulled sunflower extracts.

“Compositional analyses have revealed the presence of polysaccharides, proteins and essential minerals in the aqueous extracts and in vitro assays showed sunflower had the highest antioxidant activity,” the authors of the study wrote. 

But the researchers also reported that they could not find a direct relationship between the increased cell viability and the antioxidant properties derived from the superfoods, suggesting that other components may also be responsible, and conveyed that further studies are required to investigate the superfoods and characterise them to reveal clearer results. 

In other words, scientific research and studies done presently do not pinpoint or provide any hard evidence for superfoods being beneficial for various health benefits or their role in significantly reducing or aiding the recovery of life-threatening diseases. Although they all signal that superfoods may provide some nutritional benefits.

Superfood or Superplate?

Superfoods are undeniably nutritious but whether they are ‘the only winner’ in the race of nutrition still remains utterly questionable, as the word is used to drive sales more than nutrition, as per science. 

The motives of some studies promoting various superfoods remain unanswered, as the studies have evidently driven giant sales for various companies which sold and continue to sell superfoods packed in with informational labels. 

Correspondingly, the experiments conducted in animals or in vitro tend to overlook the combinational results of eating other foods and their effects on the human digestive system. 

The manipulative marketing campaigns with health benefits labels and supportive studies will continue to flood the smartphone screens of naive consumers in times to come as the superfoods notion offers a higher price point. In addition, the industry is also expected to expand exponentially in the next few years.

Nutritional experts believe that variety in a human diet is essential to get the benefits of eating a wide range of crucial minerals and vitamins as it also prevents one from eating too much or too little of a particular food or nutrient. 

So soldering one’s hope behind a particular superfood for healthy living may not be advisable. One should keep exploring new individual nutritional foods and enjoy them in appropriate amounts. One should also avoid choosing a winner or making a food a superfood and instead focus on a super plate filled with various healthy and flavourful foods.