Superfoods

An informal label for nutrient-dense foods. It has no definition in nutrition science.

Start from the absence of a definition

“Superfood” is a marketing term with no academic definition. It is applied to foods high in particular nutrients, but there is no threshold at which a food qualifies.

That does not make the foods useless. Dates, chia, quinoa, hemp and spirulina each have real nutritional characteristics. The point is that they matter as part of an overall diet, not as a cause of health in themselves.

What to check

The actual figures on the nutrition panel
Origin, and how far it has been refined or processed
Certification such as Organic JAS
Health-effect claims can run into Japan's pharmaceutical advertising rules