By Devon Jackson, Outside

Imagine a food-playoff system wherein watercress, a decent if unremarkable little vegetable long overshadowed by broccoli, kale, carrots, and many other veggies, not only makes it to the Sweet 16 but comes out on top. Improbable?

According to a new ranking put out by the Centers for Disease Control, watercress is the powerhouse vegetable among powerhouse fruits and vegetables (PFV). It’s a ridiculous designation that highlights just how useless “superfoods” ratings actually are.

First, let’s look into what constitutes a powerhouse fruit or vegetable anyway. The CDC defines PFVs as “foods providing, on average, 10 percent or more daily value per 100 kilocalories of 17 qualifying nutrients.” So if a 100-calorie serving of a certain food has a higher than usual amount of 17 nutrients, including potassium, fiber, protein, calcium, and iron, the CDC calls it a superfood. Researchers ultimately identified 41 of these nutrient-dense eats.

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