Download the power of super foods

THE POWER OF SUPER FOODS
These 10 top nutritional performers can transform your diet -- and possibly
your life
- Carol Ness, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 4, 2006
It's come to this again: A New Year and a wincingly honest appraisal in front of the
mirror. And even if the scale doesn't show it, January can make the excesses of the
last few weeks -- OK, months -- feel like armies of fat globules occupying your body.
What's the get-healthy, get-thin new you to do, especially now that low-carb is over?
Don't despair. This year's version of New Year's salvation lies in the concept of
"superfoods" -- the current darlings of healthy-eating bestsellerdom. It's eating lots of
blueberries and avocado, spinach and, yes, dark chocolate, although not necessarily
on the same plate.
The premise is that certain foods are nutritional powerhouses, and should be piled
into grocery carts and lunch boxes. Blueberries bubble with cancer-fighting, hearthealthy antioxidants, avocados ooze with the same good fats that olive oil has, and
spinach, well, spinach has it all, as Popeye always knew.
Current superstars are tea and dark chocolate, both brimming with antioxidants. (As
soon as coffee makes the list, it will be nirvana.)
The claims about these foods made by food marketing professionals and in popular
books like "SuperFoods Rx," by San Diego opthamologist Steven Pratt (William
Morrow 2004, 336 pages, $24.95) tend to create the impression that "superfoods" are
the nutritional equivalent of the fountain of youth and will save you from cancer,
heart disease, diabetes and every other scourge of good health.
That's probably not true.
But that doesn't mean superfoods should be dismissed.
The fact is, there's every reason to eat them.
Good nutrition
The antioxidants in blueberries are good for you. Avocado's monounsaturated fats are
healthier than, say, the saturated fats in butter. A little bit of dark chocolate does
contain micronutrients that help lower blood pressure and do other good things for
the heart.
It's called nutrition, a concept dietitians have been trying to sell for years. Now,
suddenly, it's trendy.
Food companies find the superfoods concept irresistible for advertising. But that
doesn't mean that Dole, the fruit and vegetable giant, was wrong when it called
Brussels sprouts a superfood in a holiday publicity pitch to food writers. The
sulfurous brassicas do contain lots of vitamin C and some other useful phytonutrients,
and they're very good for you.
Pratt, and co-writer Kathy Matthews, have probably done the most to popularize the
concept. Pratt noticed the connection between good nutrition and health when
patients suffering age-related macular degeneration improved when they started
eating more nutritious foods.
Their "SuperFoods Rx," with 300,000 copies in print, spotlighted "14 foods that will
change your life," and made the case for each as an ingredient that "can help you
extend your lifespan." The book summarizes research studies on the beneficial effects
of various foods, pulling together the good news from the torrent of conflicting
reports about nutrition that flood the media.
For example, tomatoes, especially processed or cooked ones, have tons of cancerfighting lycopene. Turkey breast is an exceptionally lean source of protein; it has
much less saturated fat than chicken. And drinking tea -- green or black -- delivers a
potent dose of antioxidants.
This month, the authors are coming out with a follow-up called "SuperFoods
HealthStyle," which updates research on the first 14, and adds another dozen
or so.
New to the list are apples (for fiber), kiwis (for vitamin C), and the avocado and dark
chocolate previously mentioned.
A lot of this is common sense, or at least not exactly news. But here's the thing: Even
though people know what's good for them, they don't always know how to work
these foods into three meals a day.
Pumpkin, for instance, shows up around the holidays, usually as pie, but then
disappears for the rest of the year -- depriving you of its fiber, potassium and most of
all its carotenoids, the antioxidants prevalent in orange and dark-green foods.
To offer some fun and delicious approaches to using 10 "superfoods," The
Chronicle's Roving Feast columnist Marlena Spieler has devised the accompanying
recipes.
Think 'whole'
The thing to remember, as both Pratt and nutritionists like the Bay Area's Jo Ann
Hattner emphasize, is that superfoods are really just a way to think about adding
whole foods to your diet. Most of them are fruits and vegetables; oats, a whole grain,
are also on the list.
All of the superfoods would fit neatly into the federal government's prescription for
healthy eating -- if they're eaten in appropriate amounts.
One ounce of dark chocolate may be good for you, but more is not merrier -- at least
nutritionally. Chocolate -- and likewise olive oil -- has so many calories, you really
should eat only a little at a time.
The other thing is, the superfoods list means people are likely to be eating lots of
blueberries while ignoring all their berry friends, like raspberries and boysenberries,
as well as other red fruits like cherries. But that would be a mistake.
The other berries may not have quite as many anthocyanins (antioxidants) as
blueberries, but they have some and are likely to contain other micronutrients whose
value simply hasn't yet been studied as much yet.
More to come
"When you look at the list of superfoods, it's the ones that have had the most
research," says Hattner, a San Francisco registered dietitian who teaches nutrition at
the Stanford School of Medicine.
"There are so many foods that there are benefits for but we haven't studied it."
Many food-specific studies are paid for by a crop board or commodity group, she
points out, adding, "the poor celery stalk hasn't had it yet.
"You don't want to eat just blueberries because you may miss out on other nutrients
in other fruits that you need as well," Hattner says. And Pratt covers the point in his
books, listing "sidekicks" to each superfood that should be consumed to round out the
diet.
Whole foods will always be better than trying to get the same nutrients through
supplements, Hattner says. Foods deliver many nutrients, not just the ones science
has pinpointed.
And the nutrients are delivered in combinations that may give them more power than
any one alone -- a concept known as synergy.
For example, Hattner says, current research shows that consuming vitamin E and
lycopene together -- avocados with tomatoes, say -- enhances their antioxidant
effects. The oligosaccharides in onions also boost tomatoes' lycopene.
That's likely to be the next nutrition frontier, according to Hattner, who says, "I think
the future of food would be combinations of foods."
Glossary of terms
The language of superfoods can be confusing, because many of the terms for
nutrients overlap. Here is a basic glossary:
Antioxidants. An umbrella name for many substances that retard the body's normal
process of oxidation, meaning a reaction to oxygen that releases "free radicals" that
damage cells and break the body down. Digestion releases free radicals from food.
Antioxidants help prevent this and also are thought to destroy free radicals and slow
oxidation, reducing allergies, heart disease, cancer and aging effects. Dozens of
antioxidant nutrients have been identified so far, and there are likely many more.
Many vitamins have antioxidant effects, including A (which is a carotene), C and E.
Flavonoids.These are the best-known antioxidants -- think tea and dark chocolate -among a group called polyphenols. You also see the word flavonol, which is a
subgroup of flavonoids. Relatives are anthocyanins (which give blueberries their
fame).
Carotenoids. These are the pigments that protect dark green, yellow, orange and red
fruits and vegetables from sun damage -- and they work as antioxidants in humans,
too. Beta-carotene is the best known -- it's also called vitamin A. Other famous
carotenoids -- there are dozens -- are lycopene and lutein.
Vitamins. Nutrients considered essential to health; a shortage of vitamins can create
health problems.
Phytonutrients. Plant-derived compounds that are believed to improve your health,
but aren't essential to your health. This includes many antioxidants.
-- Carol Ness
What's so super about ... ?
Apples. According to "SuperFoods Lifestyle" author Dr. Steven Pratt, different
varieties of apples have different phytonutrients, but they all have tons of
antioxidants, including flavonoids and other polyphenols, and fiber.
Avocados. Avocados have the same thing going for them that olive oil does:
healthy monounsaturated fatty acids. These are the "good fats," and they
appear to lower LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, and raise HDL (good)
cholesterol levels. Fiber, potassium, magnesium, folate and antioxidants up
the ante. And Pratt cites research showing that avocado helps the body
absorb more nutrients from other foods -- the tomato in the same salad, for
instance.
Beans. They haven't gotten the same media buzz as blueberries, but some beans have
even more health-promoting antioxidants. They also have as much cholesterollowering fiber as oats, and lots of lean protein. All of that is good for your heart.
They also are rich in B vitamins and potassium. This category includes both dried
and green beans.
Blueberries. Frozen do the trick as well as fresh, and they're easier to find in winter.
For such tiny fruits, they deliver a huge wallop of antioxidants of many kinds,
including anthocyanins and other polyphenols, and carotenoids. They also have fiber,
folic acid and vitamins C and E. And they taste good with very few calories.
Dark chocolate. The magic word here is flavonoids, the same kinds of antioxidants
that make tea so potent a health brew. Research shows flavonoids have a role in
helping lower blood pressure and in keeping your arteries from clogging -- both good
news for your heart. Only dark chocolate does the trick, not milk or white. And the
more cocoa solids the better -- look for the percentage on the label.
Kiwis. Vitamin C, vitamin C, vitamin C -- kiwis are loaded in this antioxidant, which
also makes oranges a superfood. Kiwis rival bananas in potassium, pound for pound.
And flavonoid antioxidants abound in the skin, which is edible but best if you rub the
fuzzy stuff off first.
Oats. Kings o' fiber, oats also deliver protein, potassium, magnesium and other
minerals, and phytonutrients, including antioxidants. Their cholesterol-lowering
powers are well known, and all that fiber is also believed to help stabilize blood
sugar. Oats' combination of nutrients appears to have more healthy effects than if
each nutrient were consumed separately -- which seems to be true of all whole grains.
And, they're inexpensive.
Spinach. What doesn't spinach have? It's loaded with lutein (great for eyes) and
many other carotenoids, which are healthful antioxidants; plus other antioxidants like
coenzyme Q, in serious doses; plus several B vitamins plus C and E; plus iron and
other minerals; plus betaine, a vitamin-like nutrient research suggests is good for
your heart. And with almost no calories, you can eat as much as you want. Also good
for similar reasons: kale, chard and other dark leafy greens.
Walnuts. All nuts have been rehabbed as good-for-you foods, for their healthy fats
and micronutrients. A few go a long way, though, as they are calorie bombs. Walnuts'
main claim to stardom are their omega-3 fatty acids, which fight heart disease. Other
goodies: plant sterols, which lower cholesterol, and lots of antioxidants.
Yogurt. Nutritionist Jo Ann Hattner says if she could pick only two superfoods, they
would be yogurt and tea, because their health-giving attributes have been known for
centuries. Yogurt's claim to fame is live cultures, also called probiotics or beneficial
bacteria. They are what turns milk into yogurt (but some commercial yogurts are
heated to kill the cultures after they do their work, so be sure to read the label). In
your gut, they fight bad bacteria, aid digestion, help metabolize food and generally
tune your system up. Yogurt also is a good source of calcium and protein.
-- C.N.