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Friday, February 06, 2009

When is a Blueberry NOT a Super Fruit?

When it is mixed with milk, according to a new study in Free Radical Biology and Medicine. Milk is not the culprit specifically, but rather the protein that milk contains – any protein seems to have the same deleterious effect on the beneficial properties of blueberries.



First of all, let’s take a look at exactly what blueberries can do for your health. The list of scientifically proven benefits is astonishing and impressive:

  • Blueberries are an incredibly powerful antioxidant, derived from the active compounds called Phenolics, which allows them to help prevent free radical damage to cells and tissue. This retards the development of cancer, heart disease, cataracts, glaucoma and hemorrhoids, among others.


  • Blueberries have impressive preventative and regenerative effects on both the cardiovascular and neurological systems of the body; the benefits range from repair and bolstering of vein structure, to prevention of neurodegenerative diseases, and improvement in cognition and learning.


  • Blueberries are able to effectively handle problems and symptoms of the digestive system, including relief for (amazingly!) both diarrhea and constipation. They have also been proven to inhibit the spread of colon cancer, among many other varieties of cancer.


These impressive benefits, along with anti-depressant and mood-elevating properties, are just a sampling of the benefits that blueberries offer. Ferulic acid and caffeic acid are two of the antioxidants that provide the wide-ranging benefits of the blueberry. In the study reported by Free Radical and Medicine, blueberries increased the levels of both of these powerful protectors in blood tests. However, when the blueberries were ingested with milk, no such increase was noted.

The study concluded by suggesting that, in order to derive the maximum benefits from blueberries, they should be consumed either one hour before or two hours after protein is ingested.

Who said eating healthy was easy?

How to Get Blueberries in Your Diet

Anyone who has considered purchasing blueberries in abundance (or at all) has certainly experienced the sticker shock; those little guys are expensive! Wild Blueberries can often be of the same quality as organic ones, and frozen blueberries can be just as good - as long as they move around freely in the bag and not in one clump, which indicates they have been thawed and re-frozen. Dried Blueberries actually provide a larger concentration of many of the beneficial compounds.

Sincerely,

Caroline Cardenas

Caroline Cardenas Caroline Cardenas Signature


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