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Hype nutrition2/1/2024 The difference in the 21 st century is that information now spreads at viral speed so that a new superfood seems to appear on a monthly basis. The United Fruit Company included these health benefits in its promotional material and the popular press flaunted headlines about bananas, birthing the banana diet craze. Bananas soon bore an emblem of health, and mothers made bananas a dietary staple for their children and infants even if they did not have celiac disease. The American Medical Association announced that bananas in a child’s diet would provide relief for celiac disease or cure it ( gluten had not yet been discovered as the true culprit). However, the popularity of the term soared after being endorsed in medical journals, due to physicians publishing their findings of a banana diet to treat conditions like celiac disease and diabetes. ![]() To get people to eat more, they suggested adding bananas in cereal for breakfast, in salads for lunch, and fried with meat for dinner. Initially the company had advertised the practicality of bananas in a daily diet, being cheap, nutritious, easily digested, available everywhere, good when cooked and not cooked, and sealed by nature in a germ-proof package. It published informational pamphlets including Points About Bananas and the Food Value of the Banana. The United Fruit Company initiated an enthusiastic advertising campaign to promote its major import of bananas. The earliest recorded example may have taken place in the early 20 th century around World War I, used as part of a food marketing strategy. Where did the term superfood originate? Interestingly, not from those who formally study food, such as nutrition scientists and dietitians. Its inclusion in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary confirms its widespread use, which defines a superfood as “a food (such as salmon, broccoli, or blueberries) that is rich in compounds (such as antioxidants, fiber, or fatty acids) considered beneficial to a person’s health.” The First Superfood There’s no scientifically based or regulated definition for superfood, but generally, a food is promoted to superfood status when it offers high levels of desirable nutrients, is linked to the prevention of a disease, or is believed to offer several simultaneous health benefits beyond its nutritional value. We may imagine a powerful food with special abilities like promoting weight loss or healing disease. “Superfoods,” “power foods,” “top 10 foods”-do these titles catch your attention? For those of us seeking to improve our health, the notion of a superfood can be appealing.
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