Is quinoa really a superfood?

Answers for Globle, Chronogram, Metazooa, and more from Oct 21 - Oct 27

The Trainwreck Labs Newsletter

Coming to your inbox every Monday with a brand new fun-fact and all the answers to Trainwreck Labs games from the past week.

This week, we have…

  • A fun fact inspired by a recent Metaflora answer

  • Trivia!

  • Answers to last week's games

  • Reader survey

Revisiting the quinoa craze

In spite of claims that it is a “superfood”, there is no evidence of anyone getting superpowers from eating a bowl of quinoa. Image generated by DALL-E.

Ten years ago there was one food on everyone’s lips: quinoa (Metaflora answer #387). You couldn’t go anywhere without hearing about the so-called superfood; it was being added to vegetable bowls and salads, swapped in for rice, popped like popcorn, cooked into porridge. Of course, quinoa itself is not new - it was cultivated and used by pre-Columbian civilizations and has been a staple in Peru and Bolivia for thousands of years. But quinoa underwent an explosion in popularity in North America from around 2006 - 2013, with prices tripling and quadrupling in grocery stores. A decade later, you might be wondering: what caused the quinoa craze?

First, we can look at the properties of the food itself. Quinoa is an edible seed, commonly referred to as a grain. It is a complete protein, meaning it contains all nine essential amino acids that our bodies need. It’s high in protein and a good source of dietary fibre. All in all, a healthy pantry staple.

Secondly, we must ask: what, exactly, is a superfood? While modern definitions say superfoods are those that are packed with health benefits, such as foods high in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, the word actually may have been coined by the United Fruit Company in the 20th century as a strategy to market bananas. Bananas were said to be a practical, daily source of cheap, easily digestible nutrition. A century later, the word superfood has become synonymous with presumed health benefits, and labelling something a superfood often comes with a viral marketing campaign and extremely lucrative results for the food industry. 

So is quinoa a superfood? Maybe that depends on if you believe a food can be a superfood at all. The term seems to be more about marketing value than nutritional benefit. There is no single food that can offer all the nutritional components of a healthy, balanced diet. While superfoods are fun in theory, they’re also super hyped, and it’s always a good idea to dive into the facts behind the headlines.

Learn more

Trivia!

What year did the United Nations declare the “International Year of Quinoa”?

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Answers to last week's games

Monday, October 21 to Sunday, October 27.

Globle

  • Oct 21 Romania

  • Oct 22 Panama

  • Oct 23 Qatar

  • Oct 24 United Arab Emirates

  • Oct 25 Portugal

  • Oct 26 Niger

  • Oct 27 Gambia

  • Oct 28 Play now!

Globle: Capitals

  • Oct 21 Vientiane

  • Oct 22 Minsk

  • Oct 23 Pretoria

  • Oct 24 Luanda

  • Oct 25 Ulaanbaatar

  • Oct 26 Oslo

  • Oct 27 Basseterre

  • Oct 28 Play now!

Chronogram

  • #569 Joan of Arc

  • #570 Thomas Aquinas

  • #571 James Joyce

  • #572 Cicero

  • #573 Alexander Graham Bell

  • #574 Bing Crosby

  • #575 Nikita Khrushchev

  • #576 Play now!

Fictogram

  • #336 Othello

  • #337 Joey Tribbiani

  • #338 Annie Wilkes

  • #339 Popeye

  • #340 Naruto Uzumaki

  • #341 Donkey Kong

  • #342 Okonkwo

  • #343 Play now!

Metazooa

  • #448 red panda

  • #449 ladybug

  • #450 millipede

  • #451 condor

  • #452 green tree python

  • #453 seahorse

  • #454 orca

  • #455 Play now!

Metaflora

  • #387 quinoa

  • #388 vanilla

  • #389 common beech

  • #390 cactus

  • #391 bok choy

  • #392 peanut

  • #393 raspberry

  • #394 Play now!

Linxicon

The following are the shortest paths from last week:

  • #252 prepare -> preparing -> cooking -> restaurant -> downtown

  • #253 volunteer -> work -> woodwork -> wooden

  • #254 considerable -> amount -> show -> teach

  • #255 married -> devoted -> deeply -> deep

  • #256 surround -> surrounded -> infected -> symptom

  • #257 medium -> extremely -> really

  • #258 rice -> food -> eaten -> continued

  • #259 Play now!

Forgeous

Forgery of the week from Oct 24
89% accurate

Play Forgeous for Oct 28

That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading!

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