Candidate Superfruits

• fruits lacking one or more major category, such as mainstream consumer popularity as a whole fruit, significant research activity, and/or exceptional nutritional content
• blackcurrant, 14 points
• pomegranate, 13 points
• acai, 13 points

Fruits Often Called Superfruits, But Are Not Really 'Super'

• fruits having little or no mainstream consumer popularity, insignificant research activity, and/or poor nutritional content
• amla (Indian gooseberry), 11 points
• mangosteen, 9 points
• noni, 7 points

Completely Novel Fruits -- These Do Not Earn 'Super' Status

• some fruits are completely new and undeveloped in large consumer markets, have not yet been analyzed with reliable nutrient profiles and/or have little research history
• only marketers and manufacturers trying to establish a sales position are calling these fruits super
• baobab
• macqui
• gac
• camu camu

Papaya (Carica papaya L.), one of the top true superfruits

Five Criteria for Superfruit Status

1. Popularity and sensory appeal of the whole fruit.

• most important qualifier for calling a fruit 'super'
• should have appealing attributes as a whole food to achieve optimal eating enjoyment and nutrient intake
• includes sensory appeal of appearance, fragrance, taste, color, ease and versatility of uses, availability, reliability of supply and cost-effectiveness
• a fruit not readily available and popular in developed countries can not be a superfruit

2. Nutrient diversity and density.

• should contain diverse macro- and micronutrients
• several in particularly rich amounts achieving high %DV in one serving
• compared to nutrient assays by an independent third-party contractor or the USDA Nutrient Tables
• a fruit not confirmed by independent analysis as rich in nutritional value can not be a superfruit

3. Phytochemical diversity and density.

• phytochemicals under active research for potential importance to human health
• not as antioxidants, as most attention in current superfruit products is based on an unproved assumption that antioxidant properties of polyphenols shown in vitro apply in vivo, supported neither by the FDA nor by current scientific thinking
• a fruit not established in scientific studies as having exceptional richness in phytochemicals can not be a superfruit

4. Basic medical research intensity.

• in vitro research quickly and inexpensively defines properties relevant to human health
• qualified candidate compounds from fruits may be advanced into animal (in vivo) studies
• mechanism of action, specificity of organ effect, dose-response relationships, receptor identification, pharmacological antagonists and simple disease models are tested in vitro and in vivo
• assess number of publications as a simple index for breadth, intensity and duration of research inquiry
• a fruit not under extensive study by independent scientists in many countries can not be a superfruit

5. Clinical applications.

• shows how advanced science is to proving that a superfruit (or specific phytochemical) used regularly in the diet could lead to better human ('clinical') health or disease resistance
• can be assessed by judging where in the clinical development a product candidate is for accumulating significant scientific agreement needed for FDA approval as a health product
• a fruit not well underway in human studies on the path toward health claim applications can not be a superfruit

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