Hello and welcome to Zoe Shorx, the bite-sized podcast where we discuss one

topic around science and nutrition. I'm Jonathan Wolf and as always I'm joined

by Dr Sarah Berry and today's subject is superfoods.

Yeah that's right Jonathan from Blue Breeds to Salmon to Kail. It seems like

anything can everything can be classed as a superfood these days.

Supposedly they can prevent everything cancer, reduce inflammation, help you

live longer and make you look 20 years younger as well. Which you definitely don't

need Sarah. I think the question today is are some foods really more

super than others or is this just another clever marketing point? I have quite a

clear answer on this one. Brilliant.

Maybe let's start with where the term superfoods originated and we did a

little research on this. The world's first so-called superfood was the humble

banana. In 1918 the scientific monthly published an article called The

Banana, a food of exceptional value. Sure enough food manufacturers got

excited and the United Fruit Company ran with this putting out a massive

marketing campaign around the time of World War One. They said bananas are

practical, cheap and nutritious and should be added to every meal. Superfoods

really took off in the 1990s where the US government endorsed blueberries as

being little antioxidant rich disease fighters. The Department of Agriculture

retracted this research 20 years ago but it didn't matter. Blueberry production

doubled and superfood mania took off. These days it seems like there's a new

superfood every week. Garlic, cinnamon, ginger, green tea and so Sarah what

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