Just how easy is it to find real health foods?

While most of the major supermarkets are coming around to thinking healthy and stocking some products previously only available…

While most of the major supermarkets are coming around to thinking healthy and stocking some products previously only available in specialist stores, sourcing some of these so-called "superfoods" is not that easy.

One major health food chain could not immediately provide information on whether its stores stocked, for example, blueberry juice.

Most of the A-Z products such as grains, nuts and yogurts are widely available in both supermarkets and health food shops.

Cranberry juice, hailed for its healing effects in urinary tract infections, is readily available in all the main supermarkets, including Tesco and Superquinn. Tesco stocks own-brand cranberry juice at less than half the price of Ocean Spray, the most commonly available brand.

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However, some experts question the health value of anything other than pure cranberry juice, which is not so easily found on the supermarket shelves.

Mary Davis, co-owner of Harvest Fare health store in Blessington, Co Wicklow, acknowledges that the juices can be expensive.

Davis stocks the Biona range in both cranberry and blueberry juice. A 330ml bottle of 100 per cent juice (concentrate) is €5.55, compared with around €2.50 for a litre of a product such as Ocean Spray.

She acknowledges the cost of pure juice is probably too expensive for people to take it every day as a vitality drink. "They're fabulous for infection," she says.

Davis says quinoa (it's pronounced keen-wa and is known as the "queen of grains") grain is a very popular product. It is also available in some supermarkets.

"It's the best source of protein you can find - it's got 13.8 per cent protein, which is really fantastic for vegetarians. It comes in a few different forms - as a grain, which you cook like rice, and in flakes, which can be used to make porridge or as a muesli base," says Davis.

Blueberry juice is also available through supplier BR Marketing in Dublin (telephone: 01-8850800).

Marks & Spencer stocks its own brand blueberries and frozen blueberries. Superquinn says it does stock blueberry juice, but the product does not appear to be listed on its shopping website.

Probiotic yogurts are easily found in supermarkets, but the same brands tend to be more expensive in health food stores. One independent health store says it can no longer get supplies of the Irish yogurt brand Glenisk because it appears to be in huge demand in supermakets.

Health food stores also stock a wider range of probiotics, which often includes sheep and goat yogurt as well as soy products, for those who do not eat dairy products.

Omega-3 enriched eggs are reasonably easy to find in both health food shops and supermarkets. The price comes in at somewhere around €2.65-€2.70 for a half-dozen large eggs - about 120 per cent the price of regular, non-free range eggs.

Amanda Webb of Feelgood Organic Hampers in Dublin says she finds it difficult to source some products in Ireland.

"There seems to be a certain amount of growth in the organic farmers' markets around the country doing great mixed veg, but to find anything outside fruit and veg is quite hard."