Comments on: Do Superfoods Have Super Powers or Is It Marketing Hype?

By: Daily Mail On Health Tonics « Stuff And Nonsense

Daily Mail On Health Tonics « Stuff And Nonsense — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 21:54:36 +0000

[...] The next remedy is one that contains acai, red grape juice, lycopene and resveratrol. These are all antioxidants (or sources of antioxidants) and some have been proclaimed to be ’superfoods’. Antioxidants were once thought to be promising in terms of prevention of cancer and heart disease. It turned out to be a bit more complicated than that: a Cochrane review found no evidence to support antioxidant supplements for primary or secondary prevention. Vitamin A, beta-carotene, and vitamin E may increase mortality, while one study found that the combination of beta carotene and vitamin A had no benefit and may have had an adverse effect on the incidence of lung cancer and on the risk of death from lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, and any cause in smokers and workers exposed to asbestos. As for the idea that these ingredients are superfoods (a claim not made in the Mail article, by the way), Holford Watch once reported on a newspaper article in which Several experts explain that basic science shows that some claims about superfoods can not be proved… [...]

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 14 May 2007 11:41:33 +0000

Thanks Shinga. Clearly, this is why we need media nutritionists – it would be terrible if the general public were mislead about their capacity to absorb oxygen through their bowel, following illumination. After all, you wouldn’t want people to be going around shoving torches up there unnecessarily.

I don’t know how Ben Goldacre sleeps at night, after spreading this dangerous disinformation…

By: Shinga

Shinga — Mon, 14 May 2007 09:49:16 +0000

I am missing the gene link that would allow chlorophyll to oxygenate my blood - possibly that's why I've never been able to use the phrase, "I'm not as green as I'm cabbage-looking".

Who can forget the remarkable intervention of Dr. Briffa on the chlorphyll issue, both in the BMJ Rapid Responses and his own site that pleads for greater transparency about the BDA: "Dr Goldacre’s own suggestion to test the oxygen-producing capacity of chlorophyll in the gut by illuminating the large bowel: this hypothetical test, albeit tongue-in- cheek, is flawed because the process of digestion would render chlorophyll biologically inactive by the time it reaches the colon. On the face of it, some of Dr Goldacre’s own musings here might be regarded as nonsensical at those of McKeith."

Regards - Shinga

By: Jon

Jon — Sun, 13 May 2007 21:54:41 +0000

Thanks for bringing that up - Gillian McKeith holds (or held) a similar view, and has had the mickey taken quite a bit about this - obviously, our bowels are quite dark, unless you wanted to shove a torch up there... I wonder if Holford has the same misconception(s) as McKeith, or thinks there are some other ways in which chlorophyll oxegenates our blood?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 13 May 2007 21:23:24 +0000

whoops!

haemOglobin

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 13 May 2007 21:22:35 +0000

Patricks 'superfood' link also states -

"Chlorophyll, in green plants, helps oxygenate the blood and improve energy"

really?

Plants generate oxygen from carbon dioxide using their chlorophyll - the green stuff.

Humans uptake oxygen via our lungs alone - and oxygen is transported around our body attached to haemaglobin, contained within our red blood cells. Er - the red stuff.

To get such a fundamental aspect of biology wrong points to how credible Patrick's views really are. Or perhaps he's just colourblind...