Superfoods: so, what's so super; save your money and eat right instead.

"Contains a full day's supply of vitamins in one teeny, tiny serving!" "Enough grams of protein per ounce to give you the strength of 10 men!" "It's nutritious!" "It's delicious!" "It's a SUPERFOOD!"

You've probably seen them in the stores: the bevy of expensive enriched high-protein pastas, super cereals, power bars and other products that guarantee a packed portion of good-for-you nutrients in one convenient, easyprep helping, complete with names like Power Pasta, Source of Life Energy Bar and Dynamic Muscle Builder Chocolate Shake. And you may have wondered: Do we really need all this expensive fortification and enrichment?

According to most nutrition experts, usually not. And the reason is simple: Eating a fairly normal, balanced diet should provide us with all the nutrients our bodies need. And that goes for everyone from hardcore athletes to waist-watchers. It is from unprocessed foods such as fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains like oats and buckwheat, that nutrients are most readily absorbed. Usually, the more a food is processed, the more it loses beneficial elements like vitamins and fiber. And whole, unprocessed foods take longer for the body to digest and absorb, leaving us feeling full for longer periods of time.

"In general, it's best to eat whole foods," says David Schardt, nutritionist with the Washington, DC-based Center for Science in the Public Interest, and author of a new book, Eating Leaner and Lighter. "We need not only the vitamins and minerals they contain in pure form, but other substances not found in processed foods," he explains, citing as an example the sulphur-containing compounds in cruciferous vegetables that may prevent cancer. "Vitamins and minerals are just part of what the human body gains from food."

In some cases processed foods are too easy for the body to digest, Schardt says, increasing the tendency to overeat. "Consuming a whole food like an apple takes longer than eating the equivalent amount of chocolate," he notes. "So it becomes easier to reach for more and more of the chocolate."

"We tend to eat more food products than actual food," agrees Ken Bernas, a Chicago-based nutritionist and health food store owner. "And while processed items are not necessarily bad for you, weight by weight it is possible to make much better selections."

Add to this the energy and resources consumed in the creation and packaging of processed foods, and unprocessed foods seem an even wiser choice. "It takes much less energy to process something that needs merely to be picked from a tree or pulled from the ground than something that needs milling and machinery," says Patricia Karney, executive director of EarthSave, the California-based group which educates people on the environmental impacts of food choices. "The fact that many processed foods have to be broken down and reprocessed uses a lot of energy." Also, few processed foods are available in bulk, and often, they aren't organic. Still, processed foods are a way of life in most developed countries, she adds, and become more necessary in urban areas, where an abundance of whole foods may not be readily available.

And they do have definite value in certain cases, Schardt notes, such as from vitamin D-fortified milk, which was first introduced in the 1930s to prevent deficiencies in women living in northern regions that didn't get much sunlight (the prime source of the vitamin) during winter months. More recently, the addition of calcium to orange juice has proven to be a viable way of providing more of the often-lacked mineral, particularly to people who cannot eat dairy products.

"There are cases where supplementing nutrients makes sense," Schardt observes. "But in most cases, 'enrichment' and 'fortification' are simply marketing tools." This is primarily true with foods in the "bulk-up" and "slimdown" aisles of the grocery store, where a two-pound box of proteinpumped, "energy-boosting" pasta costs $8, and meal-replacing diet bars run upwards of $2 apiece.

"Unless you have a medical problem, you should question whether you need these extra nutrients," he advises. "Protein is simply not a problem in the United States, except possibly in elderly women who do not eat enough in general. Most people consume more protein than they need." As for athletes, protein is an inefficient fuel source, since the body has to first break it down for energy. "Protein won't provide more energy for a workout; quality carbohydrates are what the body needs to stockpile for that," explains Schardt.

"Carbing up' on foods such as whole grains and potatoes will boost an athlete's energy reserves much more efficiently than consuming processed carbohydrates," like "mass-building" bars, says Bernas. "Athletes tend to be gullible," Schardt adds. "They're always looking for something to give them an edge, so they become perfect candidates for food companies to market superfoods to."

Dieters are another such oft-targeted group. Many of the Slimfast-type powders and meal bars that dieters opt for wind up having little nutritional value. "The first ingredient listed on the labels of many of these products is fructose, a form of sugar which won't really provide you with much energy," says Bernas. "Something like that has the same output of fuel as a Mars Bar." And, although they may be an easy alternative to naturally low-fat foods, such superfoods do little to establish positive long-term eating habits. "People should be eating real food," Schardt emphasizes. "It's a typical American solution to come up with some sweet silver bullet to reach dietary goals."

Many products in the cereal aisle also have unnecessary nutrient additives. Cereals that are 100 percent fortified with the RDA (recommended daily allowance) for given nutrients must label themselves a "supplement cereal" according to law, which basically gives the manufacturer the freedom to charge more for the product. "It's good insurance and it's not going to hurt, but you pay a price for it," notes Schardt. Total brand cereal, for example, has about the same nutritional value as Wheaties but may be priced higher because it's touted it as a nutrient-packed item. "People are paying as much as 20 cents per bowl for something that is basically just a vitamin pill," he adds. "There's a lot of misinformation about food out there," agrees Bernas. "And it gathers up a lot of money."

Still, for most of us, eating right all the time is something more easily talked about than accomplished. "Most of us are pretty busy, and it takes time to buy and prepare whole foods," acknowledges Schardt. There's nothing wrong with using a protein drink or other quick, enriched food on occasion, he says. It's when they become a dietary staple that there is cause for concern. "These products shouldn't substitute for whole foods--that's not a good idea," he cautions.

Most nutritionists agree that "good" foods and "bad" foods can only be determined in the total context of what you're eating. And pumping your body with power foods, they say, may do little more than drain your wallet. Contact: The Center for Science in the Public Interest, 1875 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20009/[phone]; EarthSave, 706 Frederick Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95062/[phone].