Chia, quinoa and coconut water: Testing "superfoods" (CBC Marketplace)

take a walk down almost any grocery aisle and you're going to spot this stuff we're not talking about ordinary foods we're talking about super foods we review the label on about a hundred products one thing we learn and you're talking about super foods usually that means super prices let's talk about some of the things that are in these products Omega threes proteins electrolytes these things sure sounds super but are they really it's time to find out this is your marketplace first up coconut water we're getting ready to put this popular drink through a stress test it's tap water versus coconut water on the street there's no contest how are you why choose it over just tap water it's more hydrating it has electrolytes so I'm a cyclist so when I go on long rides it's better fuel what have you heard about coconut water hydrates better than water and you believe it yes because it's more more refreshing what about for hydration yeah very much yeah hydrating yeah I can't war heard about that really you think it's 10 times more hydrating than regular water I think originally I heard as maybe electrolytes it something like that to help me man there's more than just water and they may have gotten some of those ideas from years of advertising like this if you want the ultimate ride you need the ultimate hydration hydration who comes naturally it's loaded with electrolytes so it's incredibly hydrating and that's really the key coconut water is costly prices range from $3 to 650 a liter more importantly you're metabolizing all of the great stuff that's inside of much higher rates five times more potassium than a banana marketing that seems to have hit the mark in just two years sales of coconut water increased by 66% boosted by some high-profile investors and coke evangelists on stage it may sound super but for our test we want to know is it that much better at keeping you hydrated than plain tap water at Brock University Stephen Chung is a sports scientist at his lab he puts people through extreme temperatures and stress to see what happens to their bodies right now I've probably run three four times a week we're gonna be exercising in the heat today and you're gonna be running at a decent pace you're gonna be sweating quite a bit and so one of the purpose what we want to do is see whether water or coconut water helps you maintain hydration better right to figure out how well coconut water hydrates me I need a little privacy where we're going to the washroom oh my god I'm actually doing this next big hurdle weighing myself on television sixty-eight point five kilograms and so in pounds that is 151 so this is my 500 milliliters of coconut water there are about forty five calories in here 11 grams of carbs 11 grams of sugar jam-packed with naturally occurring electrolytes and what's the other one Oh more potassium in here than a banana one of the things we want to see is whether you absorbed they didn't get it into your your fluids into your cells okay or whether it just comes straight out through your kidneys and how hot is it in that room 35 degrees yes and forty percent relative humidity whoa just like a nice hot Ontario day my speed and incline are set I'm running for an hour Stephen is going to ask me how I'm feeling take my core temperature and my heart rate every 15 minutes get off whenever you're around after 60 minutes the results are in and so far coconut water is living up to the public's perception Stephen is surprised with the results you haven't really kind of shown any signs of dehydration but we're not done yet in less than 24 hours I'm at it again I still have that one hour run ahead but the payoff finding out what hydrates me better yesterday it was coconut water and today it's a challenger see how we do good old-fashioned Ontario tap water I'm savoring this because I know it's the only water I'm gonna get as soon as I go in there you're gonna want more it's on like coconut water this isn't doesn't make any claims to be jam-packed with electrolytes or of course has no no calories either and after drinking the water it definitely nice and hydrated comes the hard part here we go for round two that's right so my legs were definitely store yesterday I feel okay right now it's get her done [Music] with a minute to go my core temperature is the same as yesterday but I've got a few familiar feelings dairy okay yeah I'm very thirsty like I keep licking my lips and I'm getting nothing so I really do want water or something to try dreamy Steven tells me my response is similar both days but our test was actually a bit tougher on tap water we stacked the deck against water and it still held up just as well as coconut water if not better I would sum everything up by saying coconut water can hydrate you but it doesn't necessarily do a better job than water if anything water might just be a little bit better from what what you've shown anyways but it's not just my test the science is pretty new but studies are coming to similar conclusions that there's no significant benefit to coconut water over plain water vitae cocoa and one coconut water are two of the top-selling brands we contact one coconut water but its parent company PepsiCo didn't want to be interviewed when we tell Vita Coco about the results of our tests with tap water they say it's the potassium that helps your workout take a look at the side of the container it's right there jam-packed full of naturally occurring electrolytes that's absolutely true but it's jam-packed with potassium whereas what you sweat out is really sodium so it may not be the best rehydration tool that way and check out this claim no fat and no cholesterol means big hearts and small BOTS the other one is small bikes big hearts water is no calories coconut water has 45 calories a cup so you're gaining extra calories that you may not really need and legally speaking in 2011 and 2012 Vita Coco and one coconut water were named in class-action lawsuits over nutrition claims in Canada in the US a California judge dismissed the allegation accusing one coconut water the class-action accusations against Vita Coco didn't go to trial either instead the company settled and they have stopped making certain claims like their products are super hydrating nutrient-packed mega electrolyte life-enhancing super water besides offering consumers compensation vitae Coco agreed to change its labels and its marketing by - Coco tells us it now does not position its beverages as offering better hydration than tap water bottom line if you love the taste and don't mind spending up to six bucks a liter go for it but if you're drinking coconut water for the hydration then consider tap water which science says does the trick we break the news on the street in terms of how it hydrated me was about the same results are about the same is that right huh hydrates about the same really well that's just what they advertise right so I guess I'm paying into the advertisements super green or super height this is not the way to get there it's a chocolate bar taking a bite out of quinoa and she is super claims so if you're looking to get omega-3 you have to you a lot of it get more marketplace sign up for our weekly newsletter at cbc.ca slash marketplace the real deal on your marketplace we're taking a closer look at some super claims reviewing about 100 labels on popular super foods next up quinoa a super grain often imported from south america in 1993 NASA scientist promoted quinoa as astronaut food because of its nutritional properties fast-forward 20 years and the UN declares 2013 the International Year of quinoa seriously the International Year of quinoa marketed as a high protein low carb green quinoa popularity continues to rise in just two years sales have nearly doubled you'd be hard-pressed to find people more serious about their diets than Olympians that's why we came to this high performance center where Canada's Olympic track and field team trains team dietitian Jen psycho with her take on quinoa it's not going to be a major protein source like a meat or eggs or even things like beans and lentils and chickpeas a cup of cooked quinoa will give you about 8 grams of protein whereas a typical chicken breast could give you 30 grams or more and it's not low-carb either it's quite high in calories at 220 or so calories per cup of cooked quinoa so you're not gonna lose weight and that's quinoa in its purest form Jen says it's nutrition seriously go sideways when this happens so these are skinnies quinoa sticks look at her face this is superfood another bag of chips Oh superfood granola with quinoa nourished popcorn or you are humans everywhere we basically taken a quinoa grain kernel and highly processed it into this until you've obliterated a lot of the nutrition and then turn it into something that might be high in salt and sugar I'm not saying this particular food is but I think we have to be aware of that this is not the way to get your quinoa it's a chocolate bar Canadian alternative to quinoa would be the potato calorie wise they're basically on par and yes you sacrifice a bit of that protein but potatoes are really high in potassium which is important for blood pressure control and they're also good sources of vitamin C they're great sources of fiber they're so underappreciated and they're also much cheaper for four bucks you can get a four and a half kilogram bag of potatoes or a 400 gram package of quinoa and get this NASA has changed course to away from quinoa focusing on fresh food instead after all potatoes worked for Matt Damon and that was on Mars and Jen says that simple swap of an expensive superfood for a better for you Canadian alternative applies to an increasingly popular seed - what about chia seeds do you guys eat chia seeds yes I do and why why chia seeds because it's good for cholesterol it's very good and it's it it's a superfood jacy's I do what about chia seeds do you eat you see it's just how do you eat your Chia oatmeal salad I put it in with my [Music] shakez why chia seeds I heard it was good for you I heard that they have omega-3 fats and teams were really buying in in just the past two years Chia sales have more than tripled when it comes to the most common claim that she is high in omega-3s our dietitian thinks there's a better alternative even if you ate this whole bowl of chia an entire bag you'd still be getting less omega-3 is than just one piece of salmon another catch for the body to use the chia seeds it has to convert them to acids and our bodies don't do that well your body converts somewhere between about zero and ten percent of that into a usable form of omega-3 that's it yeah that's not very much no so that basically comes down to 0.3 milligrams or less per serving so that's a lot of it yeah it's an inconvenient way to get your Omega threes so if you're looking to get omega-3 this is gonna take your body a lot of work to get the good stuff out you'd have to eat a lot of it and you can't eat a lot of it because it has too much fiber in it if you want to stick with seeds Jen's suggests opting for a Canadian alternative to the imported Chia flexi besides being a homegrown product flax is about a third of the price of chia remember a bag of chia was about 15 dollars compared to just 5 for flax our bro dietitian does a double take there's real issues with all names on here in this misleading consumers prevents cancer this is your market place got a story you think we should investigate email us marketplace at cbc.ca busting superfoods do you believe in superfoods yes I do what's the superfood I don't really I just see all packages I'm like okay that sounds good super seeds super greens superfood makes me stop and read the label but that label superfood is completely unregulated companies can claim any product is some kind of super food we reviewed about 100 labels and showed some of those to Team Canada the ayat ition gents I go this one caught her attention superfood girl with quinoa so on the back here it says energy booster sleep aid cardiovascular controls blood sugar curd food craving weight control lower cholesterol prevents cancer reduces risk of Alzheimer's Oh in this convenient package of granola there's real issues with the lames on here well the claims on here I I'm quite concerned about there's it's not that though Health Canada is very clear about what you can label real issues because companies aren't allowed to say foods can prevent serious diseases like cancer yeah no this concerns me [Music] we take her concerns to Halifax to food scientists with Santa Rupa singie he's built a career studying health benefits of foods he says the government is failing to fix a key issue there is no scientific definition for a superfood companies are using the word superfood without any scientific base or without any government criteria why is that a problem so the consumers believe when you see the word superfood it is better than the other regular food but it doesn't have to be that way Japan has strict rules about using that word and in the EU you won't find superfood on any food label that term is banned he thinks Health Canada needs to step up and crackdown it is a problem if a company use the word superfood and mislead our consumers so how do you think it should change I think our regulatory agencies like Health Canada need to come into the picture and add on kind of a regulation which food you could classify as either functional food or superfood why is this a superfood you decided that this is a superfood if you're gonna advertise it it should be regulated right it's inside almost jibbing health care that I should like companies but superfood on packages oh no no no I realize I'm sorry why not so I started listening to public and so that's where we're going next to Ottawa when it comes to policing food labels that job is shared between two agencies this is my eval live with Health Canada at Health Canada we set basically the regulations we actually do the enforcement parts and that's a lean Dmitriy with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency they confirm in Canada the term superfood is totally unregulated so speaking of superfoods super flakes super oats super grains super fruit frizzy Central Roast superfood not crunch super hydration there's a lot of very super things because the critics say super food there is no definition what does it mean to be a superfood so by allowing it on a package it's misleading it's not just the question of superfood is what houses on the package what makes that food superfood we often work with industries they'll often come to us with a claim that they're planning to use on the package and ask for our advice saying okay is this truthful and not misleading to consumers good question remember that product that shocked our dietitian this was alarming to some of the people that we talked to this is a superfood granola with quinoa reduces cardiovascular disease a healthy digestion energy booster sleep aid prevents cancer if you were to see this on a grocery store shelf what would you think personally my first thought is this is too good to be true there's way too many claims and I would be asking some questions certainly from the industry and as a consumer I would also be raising it to the CFIA the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is this misleading consumers prevents cancer all of the packaging has to meet the very foundational law of truthful and not misleading so I cannot tell you is this misleading there's evidence behind it that needs to be examined and so when you just look at a label that raises question but it doesn't mean that the answer is automatic and we can't just jump to judgment right away but we do have to ask the questions it's very important after we contact nature's mix they pull the product from shelves and review the label with the CFIA remember all those health claims they're now gone it's a drastic change nature's Mix says didn't intend to mislead customers and they made an honest mistake but the question remains why didn't the government catch this sooner well the CFIA tells us somebody has to complain before they can step in in the meantime the government admits there's more work to do labeling is one of those areas that we are also looking to modernize we'll be consulting with Canadians and with industry on it so that for us is going to be the ultimate way to rejuvenating our framework to be able to address situation that perhaps when we develop the framework 50 years ago we're not part of the conversation we're gonna check up on that even if the government is reviewing labeling practices it still falls to you the consumer to speak up and say something if you see a label you're concerned about and we want to see them too so send us a tweet find us on Facebook email us marketplace at cbc.ca leaving you with a little super food for thought for the next time you're in the supermarket we're back on the case investigating food waste that's before day salad still three days from now these kids saw a need and they're taking matters into their own hands what's changed for Walmart's whose responsibility is this to try to reduce food waste was our responsibility [Music]

Channel: CBC News

Views: 1,608,482

Rating: 4.7791996 out of 5

Keywords: superfoods, health, quinoa, chia, chia seeds, coconut water, food, diet, healthy, nutrition, trends, marketplace, CBC

Id: 3tzYUeoFuNw

Length: 22min 11sec (1331 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 20 2017