哪有什么超級食物！都是營銷罷了

What's so special about superfoods, anyway? Evenas the term fades slightly from marketing copy, weall still pay attention to specific foods that we'veheard are better for us than the rest. Red wine. Gojiberries. Kale.

超級食物究竟有何獨到之處?盡管不同營銷版本對這一術(shù)語的解釋略有不同，我們?nèi)耘f關(guān)心這一問題--哪些食物對人體更有益?紅酒、枸杞、羽衣甘藍。

In truth, what sets these foods apart has more to dowith marketing dollars than their effects on ourhealth. As Marion Nestle explains today at theAtlantic, food industry marketing is responsible for the whole concept of one healthy foodbeing better than others.

事實上，這些食物與其它食物的不同之處在很大程度上是由投入的營銷資金所致，而非我們所以為的對人體健康的影響。今天，馬里恩·內(nèi)斯特在接受《大西洋月刊》的采訪時解釋道，食品業(yè)營銷是造成'健康食物比其它食物更好這一整體概念'的原因。

She traces the idea back to scientific research, promoted by the companies or growers'associations that benefit from sales of a given food. "Wild" Maine blueberries have a higherantioxidant content than the highbush varieties that are more common in supermarkets, so theMaine Wild Blueberry Commission seized on that fact and promoted it with, Nestle reports, fullyhalf of their marketing dollars from 1997 to 2000. In truth, antioxidants aren't so special, andthey're found in plenty of fruits.

這一概念可追溯到科學研究中，而出售特定食物并從中獲益的公司或種植者協(xié)會是這些研究的推動者。'野生'緬因州藍莓含有的抗氧化劑含量高于高叢藍莓(超市中更為常見)，因此緬因州野生藍莓委員會緊扣這一事實，大力推廣，內(nèi)斯特報道，從1997至2000年，投入'野生'藍莓推廣的資金占委員會總營銷資金的一半。然而事實上，抗氧化劑并無獨特之處，因為很多水果都含有抗氧化劑。

Sometimes a company embraces research that's already been done, like when Barilla sent outpress releases for a pasta-related study that they did not fund. Other times, they offer freefood or (every scientist's kryptonite) free money for research on their product. Ocean Sprayspends millions to uncover any inkling of a health benefit that might be connected tocranberries.

有時，公司會采納已經(jīng)完成的研究，比如百味來公司曾發(fā)布有關(guān)意大利面的研究新聞稿，但事實上他們并沒有資助這項研究。其他時候，公司會為產(chǎn)品研究提供免費食物或免費資金(科學家的福音)。優(yōu)鮮沛(OceanSpray)為研究投資數(shù)百萬美元，以期解釋可能與蔓越莓有關(guān)的健康益處。

"This kind of research is designed to produce results implying that people who eat this onefood will be healthier and can forget about everything else in their diets," Nestle writes. Andthat's the problem: not that fruit has antioxidants-fine, whatever-but it takes the emphasis offthe eating patterns that will have the biggest impact on your diet, and instead gets youthinking about buying specific products that make somebody money.

內(nèi)斯特寫道："這種研究旨在給人們帶來心理暗示：吃這種食物你就會更健康，其它食物都不重要。"這就是問題所在：不止是強調(diào)水果含有抗氧化劑--隨它吧--而且還讓人們忘卻對飲食帶來巨大影響的飲食模式，轉(zhuǎn)而考慮購買讓某些人'發(fā)家致富'的特定產(chǎn)品。

Superfoods exist to make you feel better about the not-so-healthy food you choose, and to getyou to buy one product over another. The people who make that acai yogurt are very happywith that situation.

超級食品的存在可以讓你在購買不太健康的食物時不那么愧疚，讓您購買這種產(chǎn)品而不是那種產(chǎn)品。巴西莓酸奶制作者非常滿意這一市場情形。