{"id":31225,"date":"2025-04-18T21:34:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T21:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/31225\/"},"modified":"2025-04-18T21:34:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T21:34:08","slug":"super-foods-arent-real-longevity-expert-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/31225\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Super Foods’ Aren’t Real, Longevity Expert Says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Longevity is the buzzword of the moment, it seems; everyone from millionaires<\/a> to the Vatican <\/a>appears to be obsessed with learning the secrets of living longer. <\/p>\n

Still, while some of the advice is attention-grabbing, expert<\/a> after expert <\/a>seems to swear by the same basic rules. Eating well, getting enough high-quality sleep as possible, staying social, and exercising are all backed by research. <\/p>\n

So perhaps it\u2019s not surprising that former Embarrassing Bodies host Dr Dawn Harper, an author, GP, and health and wellbeing ambassador for Rangeford Villages<\/a>, says there\u2019s a whole genre of longevity advice she never listens to. <\/p>\n

The doctor doesn\u2019t like talk of \u201csuperfoods\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI am a firm believer that there is no one single silver bullet that will enhance your chances of living a long and healthy life,\u201d Dr Harper tells HuffPost UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when I read claims that a single \u2018super food\u2019 will achieve just that, I tend to glaze over.\u201d<\/p>\n

The doctor\u2019s own approach to eating well is far less limited than just sticking to the fruits and veggies of the moment, she adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt home, we adhere to a plant-based diet, thinking of the protein on our plates as the side dish and the vegetables as the main event and we try to eat a rainbow,\u201d the doctor shares. <\/p>\n

The British Heart Foundation<\/a> is even tougher on the term. <\/p>\n

Calling \u201csuper foods\u201d a \u201cmyth,\u201d the foundation bluntly states<\/a>; \u201cSuperfood is a marketing term created to help sell products.\u201d <\/p>\n

UK legislation <\/a>even restricts the term from appearing on food packets because of how misleading it can be for customers. <\/p>\n

There may not even be one \u201csuper\u201d diet<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some say the Mediterranean diet is key for a longer life; others swear by an Okinawan eating style.<\/p>\n

But Harvard professor of nutrition and epidemiology, Dr Frank Hu<\/a>, says \u201ceating healthy doesn\u2019t mean following a rigid formula.\u201d <\/p>\n

The more important thing is to find the whole foods you enjoy, try to cut down on the amount of processed foods you eat, and enjoy more fruits, veggies, and nuts, the expert advises<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The way to \u201cactually improve their enjoyment and also long-term adherence to dietary patterns,\u201d Hu said, is to \u201cbe more flexible and enjoy the healthy diet.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Longevity is the buzzword of the moment, it seems; everyone from millionaires to the Vatican appears to be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4318],"tags":[1203,105,4716,4434,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-31225","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-food","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-longevity","11":"tag-nutrition","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114361117407811047","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}