Burying the Berry 'Superfood' Myth?

There has been much 'hype' about 'superfoods'- berries, seeds and certain vegetables- that marketers claim will enable us to 'eat our way to health'. The May 2007 issue of The Biologist (http://www.iob.org/) has an article by Drs Hancock, McDougall and Stewart of the Scottish Crop Research Institute exploring the issue in relation to berry fruit (as used in the everyday, rather than the Botanical sense). They point out that there is ample evidence from around the world that 'berries' were an important dietary constituent of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. We all lived this way less than 500 generations ago. Some people have argued that the current 'crop' of 'Western' chronic diseases (cardiovascular and certain cancers contributing to 75% of UK deaths) is at least partially a consequence of replacing the 'old' diet with processed foods. One must firstly say that the apparently increased disease incidence may, to a greater extent, reflect our longer lifespans (the hunter-gatherers may not have lived long enough to show these diseases, even if we had their death certificates). Berries are effectively a 'bribe' by the plant to help disperse its seeds. Consequently. no self-respecting omnivore (animals, like ourselves, who eat a variety of plant and animal material) is going to turn down the easy option of berries in season. This doesn't necessarily mean that berries are good for us (the plant doesn't care about our longevity). The authors point out that berries do have high concentrations of beneficial chemicals (such as vitamins A. C and E as well as sugars) and one may also add that berries may be good dietary items because of what they don't contain (e.g. much fat). Since the 1960's people have suggested that many aging-associated degenerative diseases are linked to toxic oxygen radicals that damage components of cells (including DNA). Many berries are certainly high in phenolic antioxidants that could protect us from these radicals but Hancock et al. suggest that it is a leap (based on current evidence) to claim that eating berries will protect us from heart diseases and certain cancers. They point out that there is not much evidence for a quick protective action and that different people process these phenols in different ways. More research is clearly needed but, as Wimbledon is coming up, it might still be a good idea to go for the strawberries but leave off the cream!