Blueberry Breakdown: Help Berries Help You!

It’s not just a Dr. Oz favorite food. It’s a superfruit people consume as part of favorite recipes or all by themselves the world over. That’s because of their unique taste, versatility, availability fresh or frozen, and big potential for health. Whenever we make an effort to get the most concentrated nutrition in the form of fruit and veggie servings, wild blueberries are the food millions turn to every day.

But as much as we love them, sometimes it’s easy to set our diet on berry autopilot. Maybe you’ve become a little complacent with your eating habits. Maybe your servings count has slipped from five to one or two – on a good day. Maybe your MyPlate plate looks more like a paper bag stamped with a P.F. Chang logo.

It happens. Every once in a while it’s worth taking stock of what the wild blueberries we rely on are doing to help us – inside and out – as a way to rekindle the flame that keeps our daily nutrition smoldering. Knowing the health advantages of wild blueberries is like doing your morning affirmations. Reinforcing the benefits can help keep blues and other healthy foods at the top of your list every day, where they should be. And every effort you make toward better nutrition in the course of a day adds up to big health payoffs over time.

Wild Blueberry Breakdown

Can’t quite recall what the wild blueberries benefits are? Not to worry. Here’s your blueberry breakdown of the five most compelling ways blueberries, especially wild blueberries, are benefiting your health.

1. Your Brain

When it comes to blueberries, the “brain food” moniker is earned, and antioxidants are the key. They protect against inflammation, which is thought to be a leading factor in brain aging, including Alzheimer’s disease. And blueberries, especially wild blueberries, are higher than nearly all other fruits when it comes to antioxidants. In addition, ongoing brain research shows that blueberries may improve motor skills and actually reverse the short-term memory loss that comes with aging. Other fruits and vegetables have been studied, but it was blueberries that were shown to be effective.

2. Your Cancer Prevention Efforts

Blueberries are especially potent when it comes to the body’s battle against free radicals, and research shows that blueberry compounds may inhibit all stages of cancer. Part of the ongoing research into the benefit of blueberries for cancer prevention includes the exciting studies conducted by Shiuan Chen, Ph.D., and Lynn Adams, Ph.D., of the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, who demonstrated the potential of blueberries to inhibit the growth of Triple Negative Breast Cancer, a particularly aggressive and hard to treat form of breast tumor. Studies into the link between blueberries and cancer continue, but researchers are already taking a stand – most say eating blueberries is akin to a daily dose of cancer prevention.

3. Your Heart

Who knew something so delicious could be such a life saver? Thank the berry’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agents for its cardiovascular benefit. Research indicates that blueberries may protect against heart disease and damage from stroke, and scientists have found a blueberry-enriched diet may protect the heart muscle from damage and regulate blood pressure. What’s more, blueberries may reduce the build up of so called “bad” cholesterol that contributes to cardiovascular disease and stroke, making every blue platter a heart-healthy one, cross our heart.

4. Your Diabetes Risk 

If you have an increased chance of getting diabetes (and today, 1 in 10 Americans have Type 2 diabetes, more than ever before) eating blueberries is a smart line of defense. Consuming low Glycemic Index foods causes a smaller rise in blood glucose levels than consuming high GI foods – an important consideration for people with diabetes. Wild blueberries scored 53 on the GI scale making them a clear low GI food and an excellent choice for those struggling with or trying to prevent diabetes.

5. Your Skin

Nature gave us skin damage and wrinkles. It also gave us high antioxidant foods to fight back. The anti-inflammation properties found in blueberries act as anti-aging agents, fighting off environmental hazards to the skin, protecting the skin from sun damage and even preventing wrinkles. Some studies suggest that eating blueberries regularly can even help improve acne-prone skin. Is it any wonder products like Blueberry Eye Firming Treatment are capitalizing on the blueberry benefits?

Wild Blueberries – On Every Plate. 

We know fruit and vegetable intake is important. While all fruits are good, wild blueberries outperformed two dozen commonly consumed fruits like pomegranates, strawberries, cultivated blueberries, cranberries, apples and red grapes. Researchers are continuing their study into the anti-inflammatory potential of the polyphenols in blueberries, since chronic inflammation at the cellular level is at the heart of many degenerative age-related diseases. Besides the benefits listed above, blueberries hold other promise that has scientists engaged in ongoing research into their potential for mood enhancement, weight loss, appetite control, improvements in vision, and as pain fighters.

There are more than enough reasons not to let your nutrition flame-out. One clear solution that you can start implementing today is to put wild blueberries to work for you. Put them on your plate at every meal, and know you are doing something good for your health and disease prevention.

How much do I have to eat? Getting the recommendation amount of wild blueberries to make a difference is so doable! Recommended daily intake differs depending on age and gender, but approximately two cups of fruit is usually recommended for adults – easy to achieve throughout the day in snacks and as part of meals. And, at just 45 calories per serving, wild blueberries deliver substantial nutrients for every calorie consumed.

Find out more about the health benefits and recommended daily intake.

Need recipe ideas to rekindle your diet? Wild blueberries are easy to cook with and add surprising taste variations that make dishes shine. Search the Wild Blueberry Association’s database of recipes. It includes recipes from some of the best chefs and nutritionists guaranteed to refresh your palate and your plate!

Spotlight On: Plants for Human Health Institute

Part One: Tapping Our Global Resources 

There is something exciting going on in North Carolina.

The North Carolina State University Plants for Human Health Institute wants to change the way America views the foods that come from plants.

In a remarkable effort of research and outreach, PHHI is working to shift the American consumer’s view of plant food crops from something that fills us with flavorful calories to a powerful source for protecting and enhancing our health.

This difference, which preoccupies the Institute, is in understanding that these foods crops provide phytochemicals, not just nutrients. (If you recall your Phytochemicals 101, you know that they are the nutrient-rich components that provide fruits like blueberries and carrots with their color and act as agents of protection. They are nature’s “anti” shield that works against inflammation and free radicals.) This unique effort consists of multi-disciplinary research and groundbreaking work in areas such as genomics and plant biochemistry. It is an effort that aims to bring plants with enhanced nutritional properties into plain view to all consumers and make underappreciated crops available to the public.

A Brand New Vision

Such a mission may seem herculean, considering the hurdles faced by the modern consumer. Dr. Mary Ann Lila is the Director of the Plants for Human Health Institute, and she was recently named the first David H. Murdock Distinguished Professor at the school. According to Lila, the ability of certain foods to promote health and inhibit disease has caught on in recent years, and while awareness has increased, the work of PHHI helps consumers sort through the nutritional madness.

Lila acknowledges that blueberry-themed research has been a force for linking different areas of the campus together at the college. As a scientist, she gives a nod to the Wild Blueberry Association as an organization she particular appreciates for valuing science and making strong efforts to adhere to the truth. However, she recognizes that it isn’t something that can be relied upon in the industry. “The general public is a bit overwhelmed with all of the ‘exotic’ and unusual new introductions in the superfruit category in particular and the sometimes overstated health claims that are used in marketing sometimes without scientific validation,” she said.

As an antidote, Lila advocates a new kind of food knowledge for the American consumer. “Research and subsequent publicity substantiating health benefits, and providing succinct, clear advice on how to capitalize on these health benefits leads to increased consumer savvy and awareness,” she said.

Bolstering Immunity, Enhancing Metabolism

We have discussed in this blog the use of foods as a pharmaceuticals and as a way to prevent disease. But Lila’s view about foods is slightly different. While she agrees that functional foods contribute to health benefits on multiple fronts, including cardiovascular health or strength and endurance, she does not consider foods as targeted to a specific mode of action like a pharmaceutical. Rather, they are best used as general preventative treatments that bolster overall immunity and enhance metabolism. In her work at the Institute, she is unearthing the potential of foods around the world that strike this two-fold nutritional gold.

Many of the students that come to work at the North Carolina State University lab do so because they are interested in this unique opportunity – one that combines outreach, agriculture, and an understanding of the different communities on the globe. “They crave the international outreach and chance to work with cultures on food knowledge that has not been well researched in the western world,” said Lila. That’s certainly what they find at PHHI.

Around the Globe

Studying locally valued food crops has taken Lila and her colleagues to many far-reaching parts of the world. In an effort to identify plants that hold promise for human health, she has engaged in work with traditional healers in developing nations and with Native Americans who are bridging the gap of modern technology with traditional medicine. She has also studied food crops that are virtually unknown outside of the region can have major implications for health. “Some leafy green vegetables in Uzbekistan and other parts of Central Asia have ten-fold the levels of phytoecdysteroids (metabolism-enhancing adaptogenic compounds) than commercially-available spinach,” said Lila.

Her work has also included isolating phytochemicals that counteract malaria and working with scientists and students from around the world to explore natural products for biomedical use. Her focus on secondary compounds – phytochemicals that aren’t directly involved in a plant’s normal growth and defend the plant against stressors – may help humans defend themselves against diseases, just as they defend the plant. (Read more about Lila’s work with phytochemicals at Southeast Farm Press.)


Next – Promising Research for a Favorite Berry

The work at PHHI has only just begun. The Institute’s faculty will double this year, clinic trials are on the rise, and in an exciting move, the USDA will embed researchers on the campus to collaborate on work in blueberry research.

“Getting blueberries in there at the ground floor level has helped to spur momentum for research,” Lila said. “It dovetails and synergizes with what we are already doing, and makes us a tour de force for blueberry research worldwide.”  She refers to blueberries the “cohesive force” of the Plants for Human Health Institute.

Recently, Lila and her colleagues presented research at the Bar Harbor Group involving Parkinson’s and other neurodegeneration studies. In Part II of our discussion, we’ll examine the fascinating potential of this work and other promising research at the PHHI.

Read Part Two: Betting Big on Blueberries

Can You Clean Your Brain? New Research Shows Berries Can Eliminate Brain “Debris”

It sounds as wonderful as it does impossible: that our brain can be cleaned, restored, and refreshed by eliminating harmful clutter. There’s some brand new research indicating that this clean sweep is no new age fantasy, and it may be achieved by what we eat.

The latest scientific research reveals that what is cluttering up the brain and leaving us susceptible to its diseases of aging such as Azhiemer’s and memory loss can be tidied up through berries – specifically blueberries, strawberries and acai berries, frozen or fresh. The concept marks a leap in a compelling area of science focused on maintaining the health of the brain. It also strengthens an already compelling link between diet and prevention.

The study was presented at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, and it showed that berries (and possibly walnuts), activate the brain’s natural “housekeeper” mechanism, which cleans up and recycles toxic proteins linked to age-related memory loss and other mental decline.

If all this talk of garbage and recycling sounds more like working at a landfill than working on your health, here’s some new concepts to start thinking about:

Brain “Debris”

Previous research has suggested that one factor involved in aging is a steady decline in the body’s ability to protect itself against inflammation and oxidative damage. This damage results when normally protective cells become overactivated to the point that they damage healthy cells. This is, in a sense, the origin of brain debris, or the buildup of biochemical waste. This waste of the nervous system collects during aging, essentially gumming up the works. Without a little cleanup, this can prevent the brain from working the way it should.

Brain “Cleansing”

Now that we have the dirt, we need the broom. Enter cells called microglia. They are the housekeepers of the brain that in normal functioning collect, remove, and actually “recycle” the biochemical debris in a process called autophagy.

This process can be hindered as we get older, and without this “sweeping” process, we are left with the buildup. As a result of this slowing of the natural protective process, we are left vulnerable to degenerative brain diseases, heart disease, cancer, and other age-related disorders.

Restoring a Cluttered Brain

We know that natural compounds called polyphenolics found in fruits and vegetables have an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect that may protect against age-associated decline. Shibu Poulose, Ph.D. and James Joseph, Ph.D., (Joseph passed away in June; you can read our rememberance of Jim Joseph here) did the latest research that takes these details and ties them directly to the berries in question.

The research by Poulose and Joseph suggests that the berries’ polyphonolics are responsible for what they call a “rescuing effect”.  They restore the housekeeping action – the normal function of sweeping away debris – that hinders the function of the brain.

 
A Growing Area of Study

While we are already aware of the disease preventing effects of polyphenols, this “rescuing” process has been previously unrecognized by researchers. It furthers the science behind an important link between diet and maintaining healthy brain aging.

Keeping diseases of the brain at bay seems to be more and more within reach by accessing the great foods that surround us. As research into the astonishing benefits of berries continues, researchers continue to provide compelling data about their disease preventing power  – and that means hope for all of our aging, cluttered brains.

Don’t Be Fooled By Big – Get the Skinny on Small

There is currently a commercial for blueberry juice on TV that shows the characters standing in a field with a typically overall-clad “Maine blueberry farmer”. Part of this goofy pitch is to show off the blueberries, presumably straight from the barren, lined up in their pints.

But the blueberries look so big. So uniform. Are these truly wild blueberries straight from the harvest?

If they are from barrens in Maine as the commercial exhorts, they surely are wild. But something seems odd. It’s as if these outsized spheres might be photogenic stand-ins for the distinctively small, variant wild.

Wild or Whoops? 

It’s a common gaffe. It can be seen repeated more often than you might think, in demonstrations of recipes on home and morning shows or by local chefs showcasing their concoctions. When topping a salmon entrée or truffle with the delicious and aesthetically pleasing blueberry, they seem to think the biggest of the big is the best way to flaunt their dish. While gargantuan blue orbs roll around on the plate, it makes a person wonder – are these cultivated berries chosen strictly for their size and consistency and not their taste and nutritional value?

It’s understandable. We are a nation that loves big. We choose large screens, we supersize, we value mass and acreage, we revere the guy with more. It’s only natural. But when a chef or food purveyor makes the mistake of choosing berries purely for their size, they sacrifice the privilege of saying they use wild, and wild is where the benefit is.

An Education in Small

Wild blueberries are native to North America where they have grown naturally for thousands of years. Their hardscrabble roots, thriving in challenging soil and four-season climates make them what they are: an array of naturally distinctive variations in skin color, height, taste, and fruit size. Part of this distinctiveness is their relative smallness when compared to their cultivated counterparts that have been planted and grown other parts of the country.

Wild blueberry fields and barrens actually produce many different lowbush blueberry clones, which account for the variations in color and size that characterize the wild blueberry crop. When you eat wild blueberries, part of what you taste is the variety of sweet and tangy berries together. It’s kind of a mouth explosion – a taste experience that can’t be duplicated in any other berry. It’s this variation of color, size, and taste that gives the wild blueberry its mystique.

Efforts to plant truly wild blueberries elsewhere have been impossible to achieve, and as a result, wild blues are native only to Northern American regions situated within fifty miles of the coast. In areas of Down East Maine and Canada where these wild blueberries grow, they are a source of pride. In late summer, the talk is strictly of the harvest, and fairs and festivals revolve around the crop, with pie eating contests, facility tours, and the crowning of Blueberry princesses and queens. It’s the time of year when small and wild reign.

Selling Health? Sell Small.

Most of the best chefs and food industry professionals understand the distinctive qualities of the wild blueberry, while some seem stuck on size. In fact, wild blueberries have superior performance – they maintain their taste, texture, shape and color throughout manufacturing and freezing, which makes them perfect for recipes.

But here’s the best benefit of small: the more diminutive wild blueberry delivers the best nutritional power. Small is the key here: the skin of the berry is where we find nutritional potent antioxidants, and small berries provide a higher skin-to-pulp ratio. As a result, their nutritional value skyrockets. So, if you’re selling nutrition in your dish or product and not using wild because you think cultivated are more photogenic, you’re missing the boat.

Native, wild, distinctive, nutritionally powerful, all in a small package. So what’s the deal, chefs and ad campaign managers? Let’s stop equating big with better. Instead, let’s embrace small over big and variation over uniformity. Next time you want to praise the chef’s crème brulee for the consistency of size and color of those giant blue globes, you might instead venture a polite, “Hey, are these wild?”