Superfoods: Superhealth or SuperScam?

Superfoods - Superhealth or Superscam?

How many times have you heard about, or even purchased, foods that are said to improve or cure an ailment, detox your body, or provide missing nutrients your body needs? ‘Superfoods’ have been gaining popularity in recent years, and with that, the prices have been rising.

We are super nutrient nerds so we wanted to compare three common ‘superfoods’ to some common food choices in price and nutrients to see what’s up! Check out what we found and decide if you want to make a “superswap” or avoid a ‘superscam’.

Goji Berry

These bright orange/red berries are found across Asia, and are also known as wolfberries. You can find them in a dried form, usually in health food shops or the “natural” section of your grocery store for about $2.50 per ounce (about 5 Tbsp).

The main “super” claim of Goji berries is the high amount of antioxidants due to a very high vitamin C content. It’s been said they provide up to 500 times more vitamin C than an orange, so let’s go with that comparison.

5 Tbsp of dried Goji berries give you 14mg of vitamin C(1), whereas a typical navel orange provides 60mg(2). This means a single orange provides just over 4 times as much vitamin C as the goji berry. The best part is an orange only sets you back about $1.50 so there is no need to break the bank with these little berries.

Wheatgrass

You’ve probably seen this on the menu at juice and smoothie shops or sold in powdered forms in health food stores. Wheatgrass is an intensely green liquid that tastes and smells like lawn trimmings. It is made by juicing the grass of the wheat plant.

The ‘superfood’ claim of wheatgrass is that it can prevent and treat MANY different ailments, all the way from cancer to AIDS because it is high in nutrients such as vitamin C and folate.

If we compare a 1 oz shot of wheatgrass to a ½ cup of raw broccoli, the truth is broccoli contains more than 3 times the amount of folate and 35 times the vitamin C. Broccoli has the added benefit of fiber. In order to get as much vitamin C and folate as half a cup of broccoli you would need to drink more than 4 cups of wheatgrass juice. Count me out!

Here at The Nutrition Room we teach to choose foods that you enjoy. Wheatgrass doesn’t pass the enjoyability test, so we opt for more enjoyable alternatives like adding broccoli to stir fry, spinach to smoothies, or arugula with pasta.

Celery juice

This is a HOT topic at the moment. We have to be honest, celery is one of the top hated vegetables and somehow diet culture found a way to make it worse by juicing and drinking large volumes of it.

The claims about celery juice are that it rids the body of toxins and cures all illnesses. These originated from a man named Anthony William who calls himself “The Medical Medium”. He claims we must drink celery juice to detox the body, and that we cannot get these benefits from anything else (including eating celery). Unfortunately, these ‘benefits’ are not nutrition related and, truthfully, are completely fabricated and not based in science.

So what can replace a $6 bottle of celery juice? Really, anything. Celery juice doesn’t contain much, nutritionally speaking. It does provide hydration, but that is about it. Try replacing it with another juice you enjoy, a smoothie using whole fruits and vegetables, or even a plain ol’ glass of water.

So are there any benefits to foods labeled ‘superfood’? Sure, most of these foods are nutrient dense foods, meaning they are rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants, etc. There are also other ‘superfoods’ that aren’t quite so exotic, and therefore less expensive, we’ve only touched on three here.

Bottom line? If you enjoy an advertised ‘superfood’, have the money to afford it, and don’t mind that the health or nutrient claims aren’t scientifically proven, then go for it! But don’t feel that you need to fork over all your hard earned money for something really special, because at the end of the day all foods have nutritional value and there is nothing wrong with enjoying some steamed broccoli or a spinach salad.

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