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Food with benefits

18.05.12

Functional foods and their potent reduction into powder, pill and liquid form are not just foods, marketing campaigns tell us, they are foods with benefits. But, articles written about shonky promises of miracle cures has lead many to question the virtues of superfood supplements as a whole. With each new 'superfood' supplement on the market we are delivered a deliciously tantalising promise. A part of the problem is that research into superfoods, which constitute "a nutrient-rich food considered to be especially beneficial for health and well-being", is still relatively new and inadequate. Yet, Copenhagen University Hospital looked at data from 67 studies on antioxidant supplements and found that "The studies are limited with many of these kinds of supplements and evidence in peer-reviewed literature is conflicting. "An example of this is research into antioxidants, which many studies credit with helping to ward off cancer among other things.

Source: Coastal Times