The Irish Cancer Society is warning that so-called superfoods are a scam that only cause more damage to vulnerable people.

The charity is urging the public not to follow 'fad' trends ahead of their New Year's health kick.

Head of research at The Irish Cancer Society, Dr Robert O' Connor, said the belief that certain foods can cure your health is nonsense.

"The concept of a superfood is just an exploitative scam, to be frank," he said.

"There is no such thing as a magic fantasy berry that can detoxify or change our basic and people need to be very wary of people making false claims."

The charity said it is so important that the Cancer Advertisement Bill is introduced as non-proven treatments are dangerous.

Dr O'Connor said it is pure greed to take advantage of someone's hope.

He said: "It's false and misleading hope and I guess our concern and the reason that the Cancer Advertisement Bill has been brought forward is this is so common now and it is directly impacting the health of cancer patients and people going through other forms of cancer treatments.

"People need to be held accountable for the false claims they are making."