All About Superfoods For Health

Superfoods are foods that are very "nutritionally dense", which also have extra add-on health benefits which come from "antioxidants" and "phytochemicals". Let's look at both of those statements in a bit more depth.
When a food is "nutritionally dense", it means that the food has high concentrations of essential vitamins and dietary minerals that we know are required by human beings. That includes vitamins A, B, C, D, E, K and so on, and  dietary minerals such as Calcium, Iron, Potassium, Magnesium, Zinc and others. But these things are found in many different foods already. All foods contain at least some of the vitamins and minerals in varying quantities, so what's so special about superfoods?
They big difference is that superfoods have an unusually high concentration of nutrients for their size, when looked at alongside normal foods. As an example, cucumbers are mostly (90% or so) made up of just water, so to get any decent levels of nutrients from a cucumber you'd have to eat an awful lot of them!
With superfoods you can eat a handfull and it will provide a large dose of nutrients, sometimes providing your entire recommended daily allowance (or more) for individual vitamins or minerals all in one go. Now that's super! Few foods show such high levels of nutrients in such small amounts, and that's why superfoods are so healthy. They can deliver nutrition like you've never felt before.
OK next up, antioxidants and phytochemicals. These may be new words for you, so I want to explore them a bit more before we go any further.
Let's start with antioxidants. These are natural chemicals which stop oxidation inside your body. Oxidation is a process which damages cells when they react with oxygen. Damage from the oxidation process is thought to be the cause of various illnesses and diseases such as heart disease, cancers, premature ageging and so on. Antioxidants prevent the damage from oxidation by blocking the chemical reaction and stopping it from happening at all, and so in theory cut down any undesirable effects. For example, Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is an antioxidant which we need for everyday use.
Secondly, phytochemicals. These are naturally occuring compounds found in plants and animals,  which are not required for human life. As humans we depend on some vitamins and dietary minerals for the various chemical reactions inside our bodies to work properly - that's why they're called "essential" , whereas we're only just starting to fully comprehend the uses and benefits of phytochemicals. Much of the reported power of superfoods (such as anti-cancer, anti-heart disease, anti-ageing and so on) is thanks to the different phytochemicals found inside them.
Superfoods contain lots more than just strong concentrations of all the essential nutrients we need, they also contain high levels of phytochemicals and antioxidants making them even more amazing!
To summarise: as human beings, we require vitamins and minerals to live. If we don't get enough of these nutrients, our bodies start to break down. Modern research and new scientific discoveries have shown us that there may be new and more powerful nutrients that can provide anti-ageing, anti-cancer and anti-heart disease benefits. Superfoods are foods which combine a powerful mix of all this goodness at once, and they taste great too - so there's absolutely no reason not to have superfoods as part of a healthy diet.