'Superfoods' have long been presented as magic health cures but do any of them actually work?

Explorer and educator Dan Buettner has broken down the 'real superfoods' everyone should be eating for life longevity and the ones that you should avoid.

Speaking to his followers, the National Geographic fellow warned that "anytime anyone markets you a superfood, you can be pretty sure it's not."

The Blue Zones founder 64, added: "Many, if not most of them have added sugars or processed ingredients which aren't all that good for you. 

The expert explained that basically, any packaged food that trumpets some health benefit, it's probably not all that good for you.

Buettner has become well known for his research into five "blue" zones across the world where inhabitants regularly live well into their old age

@uktoday_ Experts warn what happens when don’t wash these fruit and vegetables #uknews #fruitandveg #foodpoisoning #uknewsheadlines ♬ original sound - UKToday 🇬🇧 Newsquest

The author noted that one of the cornerstones of "all these longevity diets are beans and grains".

He added that they "store beautifully for years at a time and those sorts of foods get people through the times when their gardens aren't producing".

Buettner also acknowledged the "enormous burden" that we often put on ourselves to try and eat fresh fruits and vegetables.

The National Geographic fellow continued: "You go in the inner city, a lot of people don't know what to do with fresh fruit and vegetables.

"They don't have a taste for them."

Instead, the expert suggested that "a much greater, easier solution is beans and rice, beans and corn tortilla, beans and pasta - pasta Fagioli.

"Whenever you have a bean and a grain and you put them together, you have a whole protein."

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Previously, Dan Buettner has signposted his followers to what he described as the "best diet human beings have ever invented."

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The Nicoya Peninsula has the lowest rate of middle-age mortality in the world", according to the New York Times bestselling author.

The explorer continued: "Because of these foods, the people living on the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica are two and half times more likely to reach the age of 92 than people living in the United States or Europe."

The three foods he recommends are corn, squash and beans.