What's so special about superfoods, anyway? Even as the term fades slightly from marketing¹ 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.

超级食物究竟有何独到之处？尽管不同营销版本对这一术语的解释略有不同，我们仍旧关心这一问题--哪些食物对人体更有益？红酒、枸杞、羽衣甘蓝。

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.

事实上，这些食物与其它食物的不同之处在很大程度上是由投入的营销资金所致，而非我们所以为的对人体健康的影响。今天，马里恩·内斯特在接受《大西洋月刊》的采访时解释道，食品业营销是造成'健康食物比其它食物更好这一整体概念'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.

这一概念可追溯到科学研究中，而出售特定食物并从中获益的公司或种植者协会是这些研究的推动者。'野生'缅因州蓝莓含有的抗氧化剂含量高于高丛蓝莓（超市中更为常见），因此缅因州野生蓝莓委员会紧扣这一事实，大力推广，内斯特报道，从1997至2000年，投入'野生'蓝莓推广的资金占委员会总营销资金的一半。然而事实上，抗氧化剂并无独特之处，因为很多水果都含有抗氧化剂。

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 cranberries².

有时，公司会采纳已经完成的研究，比如百味来公司曾发布有关意大利面的研究新闻稿，但事实上他们并没有资助这项研究。其他时候，公司会为产品研究提供免费食物或免费资金（科学家的福音）。优鲜沛（Ocean Spray）为研究投资数百万美元，以期解释可能与蔓越莓有关的健康益处。

"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.

内斯特写道："这种研究旨在给人们带来心理暗示：吃这种食物你就会更健康，其它食物都不重要。"这就是问题所在：不止是强调水果含有抗氧化剂--随它吧--而且还让人们忘却对饮食带来巨大影响的饮食模式，转而考虑购买让某些人'发家致富'的特定产品。

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.

超级食品的存在可以让你在购买不太健康的食物时不那么愧疚，让您购买这种产品而不是那种产品。巴西莓酸奶制作者非常满意这一市场情形。