Juice Master Jason Vale asks what all the hype is about.

Every month there seems to be a new 'superfood' coming into our lives. They make newspaper headlines, they’re talked about on TV and radio chat shows and the Notting Hill gang are usually the first to jump on the all new all-singing, all-dancing "You will live to 175 if you eat these berries," bandwagon.

At the time of writing this it’s goji berries, acai berries and blue-green algae that are making the "must have food" headlines. However, by the time you read this the new 'superfood' could be anything from the sap from the rare 'Hindile Tree' which is only found in the rainforests of Cape Tribulation, to a rare insect that if crushed into a powder and added to your acai smoothie will have you doing cartwheels in the snow at the ripe ole age of 100!

Let superfood be thy medicine…

Let’s be clear - ALL fruits and vegetables designed for human consumption are superfoods. When Hippocrates famously said, "Let food be thy medicine", he wasn’t talking about burgers and fries. He was of course referring to nature’s raw superfoods. Fruits and vegetables aren’t just superfoods; they are also super medicines. The liquid fuel which makes up an average of 80% of all fruits and vegetables (even a banana is over 85% vitamin- and mineral-rich organic water) has been used to successfully treat ulcers, skin conditions, obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, scurvy, prostate cancer, lethargy – the list goes on to just about every disease known to mankind.

Personally, I am a big advocate of the all-singing, 'new to us' superfoods. Acai (ah-si-ee) berries, for example, contain twice the amount of antioxidants as blueberries, and blueberries are already one of the highest sources of disease- and age-defying antioxidants. In fact, in a recent scientific study, acai berries earned themselves the enviable title of 'world’s healthiest fruit' - not surprising as they are considered to have more antioxidants than any other fruit on earth.

Goji berries contain 18 amino acids (the building blocks for protein) and spirulina (blue/green algae) has twice as much calcium as milk and 58 times more iron than spinach. The world has got a great deal smaller since the days of Hippocrates and we now have access to some of nature’s most nutritious superfoods - foods we would never have had access to in times gone by. Some people think it’s a bad thing that we can get strawberries in winter and cranberries in summer, but I say bring it on!

The world is changing all the time and all species grow and adapt. We have found ways to get these amazing superfoods from all over the world, all year round. Even acai berries, when picked, only last one day. However, due to human ingenuity, we have found a way to freeze dry the berries and reduce them to a powder. This powder can be stored for years and, because it was freeze dried the very day it was picked, in terms of nutrient value it’s often fresher than what is regarded as 'fresh fruit' on the shelves of many supermarkets - fruits which often have been picked before they were ripe and stored in cool facilities for anything up to a year!

One man’s superfood…

I agree, though, that like anything else, you can always find another side to the superfood argument. Just because spirulina, for example, has 58 times more iron than spinach, who’s to say we actually need 58 more times iron than contained in what is essentially a superfood in its own right - spinach? Who’s to say that just because goji berries have more than twice the amount of vitamin C as an orange, we need that much vitamin C? Or who is to say that our body can assimilate the amount of antioxidants in some of the new 'superfoods'? I mean, a standard mountain rock has more minerals than your average apple, but I don’t think anyone in their right mind would believe that just because a rock is loaded with minerals we should be eating it as part of some kind of 'superfood' diet.

However, one thing I believe is impossible to argue about is that 'normal' fruits and vegetables can be classed as 'superfoods'. So if you don’t buy into the whole 21st century super berries, super green algaes and super supplements craze, then that’s your bag and I for one think everyone to their own.

Personally, if there were a berry or some kind of food you would instinctively eat if left in the wild and to your own devices, then I feel it can only be a good thing - especially when these berries come from naturally warm climates (due to my belief that, as we originally descend from primates and therefore from warmer climates, surely wet, cold and dark Britain isn’t where we were meant to be!).

Having said that, I am a big advocate of the blue-green algae spirulina and I love a bit of wheatgrass juice. I even have my own range of Juice Boosters and Superfood supplements - so yes on one huge hand I am as sold as it gets on the 'new' superfoods.

So as you can see, each to their own on the newly found superfoods that keep hitting the headlines and will no doubt continue to. One thing is for sure though: it is essential that our bodies get some of nature’s superfoods in whatever form. So if you find you don’t eat enough of a selection of raw fruit and vegetables on a daily basis, then a couple of spoonfuls of superfood powders mixed with some freshly extracted juice or a fresh fruit smoothie every day will be the best health and life insurance you could invest in.

About the Author

Jason Vale, aka The Juice Master, is the author of several books on health and nutrition, including The Juice Master Keeping It Simple: Over 100 Delicious Smoothies and Juices. For more information see www.juicemaster.com.

This article appeared in the Autumn 2007 issue of Get Fresh! magazine.