超級食物實際上是營銷產物

What's so special about superfoods, anyway? Even as the term fades slightly from marketing copy, we all still pay attention to specific foods that we've heard are better for us than the rest. Red wine. Goji berries. Kale.

超級食物究竟有何獨到之處？儘管不同營銷版本對這一術語的解釋略有不同，我們仍舊關心這一問題--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 do with marketing dollars than their effects on our health. As Marion Nestle explains today at the Atlantic, food industry marketing is responsible for the whole concept of one healthy food being 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，而非我們所以爲的對人體健康的影響。今天，馬裏恩·內斯特在接受《大西洋月刊》的採訪時解釋道，食品業營銷是造成'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 higher antioxidant content than the highbush varieties that are more common in supermarkets, so the Maine Wild Blueberry Commission seized on that fact and promoted it with, Nestle reports, fully half of their marketing dollars from 1997 to 2000. In truth, antioxidants aren't so special, and they're found in plenty of fruits.

這一概念可追溯到科學研究中，而出售特定食物並從中獲益的公司或種植者協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於高叢藍莓（超市中更爲常見），因此緬因州野生藍莓委員會緊扣這一事實，大力推廣，內斯特報道，從1997至2000年，投入'野生'藍莓推廣的資金佔委員會總營銷資金的一半。然而事實上，抗氧化劑並無獨特之處，因爲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 out press releases for a pasta-related study that they did not fund. Other times, they offer free food or (every scientist's kryptonite) free money for research on their product. Ocean Spray spends millions to uncover any inkling of a health benefit that might be connected to cranberries.

有時，公司會採納已經完成的研究，比如百味來公司曾發佈有關意大利麪的研究新聞稿，但事實上他們並沒有資助這項研究。其他時候，公司會爲產品研究提供免費食物或免費資金（科學家的福音）。優鮮沛（Ocean Spray）爲研究投資數百萬美元，以期解釋可能與蔓越莓有關的健康益處。

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

內斯特寫道："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，轉而考慮購買讓某些人'發家致富'的特定產品。

Superfoods exist to make you feel better about the not-so-healthy food you choose, and to get you to buy one product over another. The people who make that acai yogurt are very happy with 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麼愧疚，讓您購買這種產品而不是那種產品。巴西莓酸奶製作者非常滿意這一市場情形。