NUTRITION


Sedate brown-green powders and lifeless capsules wouldn’t be very sexy as stand alone items. So these products are cleverly marketed with the usual lethal gamut of ‘cutting edge’ research, images of women in bikinis who are conventionally attractive with just the right amount of exotic ethnicity, and those words that appeal to the health nut in all of us: organic, pure, clean, paleo, concentrated, anti- ageing, antioxidant, and of course free of gluten, sugar, dairy, and all the rest of it.


MORE NUTRIENT-DENSE THAN A SPEEDING BULLET BLENDER What makes these superfoods even more irresistible is the inviting concept of a jam-packed form of nutrition in a minute amount of food, conveniently packaged in some highly concentrated form. Get 300% of your RDI of vitamin E or quercitin in just one teaspoon of this stuff! What time-poor wellness seeker could resist? The escalating demand for such


foods by health-conscious consumers has let loose the tsunami of superfood marketing and health food store bombardment we’ve seen over the last decade.


Karma of superfoods


Did you know that many so-called ‘superfoods’ carry a heavy environmental and social footprint? by Casey Conroy


A


ny die hard yogi, health coach, budding nutritionist, or health- conscious supermodel will


tell you that your morning smoothie isn’t complete without acai berries, maca powder, spirulina, or chia seeds. But did you know that many far-flung ‘superfoods’ carry a heavy environmental and social footprint?


16 MARCH | APRIL 2018


WHAT ARE SUPERFOODS? Superfoods are simply foods that have a higher than average nutrient density, which leaves a wide scope for many different foods. Nowadays the word ‘superfood’ brings to mind some relatively expensive powders, capsules, purees, and juice concentrates.


RARITY BREEDS DESIRE As humans we tend to thirst for the most exotic, the most expensive, the most foreign version of many things, and this is strikingly clear when it comes to some of the more popular superfoods. Think goji berries from the Tibetan


Himalayas, acai sourced from the depths of pristine Amazonian rainforests, chia harvested in South American coastal deserts, maca and quinoa from the high Andes of Peru and Bolivia, coconuts and durian from steamy Southeast Asia, noni fruit from Tahiti, and mesquite from Mexico. That means there’s a lot of work and resources involved in getting those superfoods from those Andean mountaintops and high Tibetan plateaux and into your blender.


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