Maine has long been known for its lobster and Wild Blueberries, but if two Western Maine entrepreneurs have their way, the state may be on its way to becoming a hub for organic Granola, too.
GrandyOats founders Aaron Anker and Nat Peirce have been quietly expanding their homegrown business for the last two decades from a renovated dairy barn in rural Brownfield, Maine. In 2013, bursting at the seams and in need of more space for their distinctive hand mixing and baking process, the partners launched a region-wide search for a bigger building. Instead of pulling up their rural roots and moving closer to an urban center, they opted to remain in rural Western Maine.
“The decision to stay put may seem counterintuitive for a mainstream business,” laughs Chief Granola Officer Anker. “But we’re not mainstream. We wanted to support rural jobs and economic development in our home state.”
In 2014, GrandyOats closed a deal to purchase a 13,000-square-foot elementary school in Hiram that had been sitting idle since 2009. The company hired an architect and renovated the schoolhouse into a modern baking and mixing facility that has the warm bohemian feel and delicious aroma of a local bakery.
In the sprawling field behind the bakery, the entrepreneurs installed 288 solar panels, making them among the first net-zero, entirely solar-powered food manufacturers in New England. A stunning new series of videos highlights the new facility, the solar array, and the tale of their growth and laid-back philosophy.
From this new expanded location, GrandyOats creates more than three-dozen organic and gluten-free products, including traditional and grain-free granola, muesli, nuts, and trail mix. Anker notes that his company spends a lot of extra time and money sourcing premium ingredients. “Every month, we buy about 4,000 pounds of locally farmed organic oats, which costs more but it’s the right thing to do. We also source premium organic dried Wild Blueberries because they’re grown nearby, and they’re healthier and tastier than regular cultivated blueberries.”
These intentional decisions and a smart business plan have helped propel the company’s significant growth. GrandyOats sales have rocketed to $5 million in 2015, with sales in thousands of outlets across the country.
A Yummy Product that Uses Wild Blueberries
All of the GrandyOats products are delicious, but we have a special place in our heart for the Wild Blueberry Granola, made with organic dried Wild Blueberries. The packaging for this unique flavor claims it’s made in small batches using “Only the Good Stuff” including organic free oats, organic honey, organic sunflower seeds, and organic Wild Blueberries. It’s also gluten free.
“There’s a wild world of flavor in every bite,” reads the romance language on the bag. Indeed, the Wild Blueberries in this tasty granola are dried and sweetened with organic fruit juice, giving them a perfect chewy, sweet, tangy flavor. A yummy treat for any time of the year.
For Olympic athletes at the top of their game, eating a healthy diet once every four years isn’t enough. While potent nutrient-rich wild blueberries figure prominently in the diets of athletes during competition time, they are also a staple in the years of training that lead up to the big event. Whether they are vaulting, running, shooting or backstroking, Olympians often rely on blueberries because they are one of nature’s ultimate performance foods.
Blueberries, especially powerfully nutritious wild, provide mental focus and clarity, nutrient richness, and low-calorie fiber, and they serve as a low GI food to provide steady energy over the long haul. According to Epicuious.com, U.S. Olympic swimmer Peter Vanderkaay and soccer goalie Nicole Barnhart bet their best maneuvers on blues, packing their breakfasts with blueberries in smoothies and in yogurt. In fact, recent research indicates that blueberries help muscle recovery, making smoothies a smart choice for athletes. Even Bruce Jenner has weighed in with his own All-American Blueberry Muffins!
That powerful little blue fruit seems to be the undisputed breakfast of champions, and because the London 2012 Summer Olympics coincide with the beginning of wild blueberry harvest season, fresh is the name of the game whether you are training, recovering, throwing an Olympic-sized party, or just keeping tabs on the coverage.
Wild Blue Guide to the 2012 Games
– Combining classic English eating with American flair is the culinary challenge during the London Summer Olympics. To kick off the opening ceremonies, this Gold Medal Summer Berry Pudding is the California Raisin Marketing Board’s homeland take the English classic. It features copious amounts of strawberries, fresh raspberries, fresh blueberries, and fresh blackberries along with California raisins of course. Way to get in the game, CA!
– The Today Show shows us how to step up to the podium with the ‘Olympic’ Eccles Cakes with Ice Cream, a delightful way to take your pride in USA to the finish and still doff your hat to the host country. Dried blueberries feature in the filling of this dessert cookie named after an English town.
– Olympic Fruit Sticks are a snack Brits and Americans alike can be chuffed about. A few favorite fruits speared onto cocktail sticks showcase the spirit of the Games with choices that represent the colors of the Olympic rings and the bounty of summer. Great for a patriotic accompaniment to a drink or snack and a super simple way to boost both pride of country and berry intake.
– When London’s calling, it’s all about cake. UK import PocketfulofDreams.com breaks a dessert record with this Patriotic Cake that shows the true colors of the host across the pond. A little shift in design and sure, you can tailor it to the country appropriate for you – we won’t tell. Either way, this cake truly “takes the biscuit”.
– Go for gold with Vanilla Cupcakes from WhatKateBaked.com – pleasingly British in its works-well-with-tea character, berries are the focal point. Fresh wild blueberries really rack up the medals for their role in this recipe, and at just the right time of year for fresh embellishments.
– Good show PBS Food, for searching out superior foodie celebrations to commemorate the 2012 Games with picks for favorite Patriotic Recipes. Some berry good highlights include:
Red, White and Blue Sangria from RecipeGirl.com. It deftly passes the torch of flavor, thanks to the addition of blues. Pineapple stands in for white – why not? What a way to toast to victory!
Go Team USA! Open-Face Panini from PaniniHappy.com. Sliced French bread, topped with a thin layer of sweet honey, Brie, ham “stripes” and fresh blueberries send a unique message of solidarity to the home town team. Says Kathy of Panini Happy: “Sweet and savory never seems to fail. […] That warm, gently sweet burst you get when they break in your mouth is a fun part of eating these snack-like sandwiches.” A win!
SkinnyTaste.com’s Red, White and Blue Trifle. This recipe is destined to take home the hardware with its promise of health and low calories in sweet, fresh outsize spoonfuls. Summer’s blueberry crop provides the gold-worthy elegance that makes the dish, along with their competitively high antioxidant counterparts, fresh strawberries. Beautiful for any USA-themed celebration.
National Blueberry Month & Summer Games Together? Celebrate Olympic style!This Mango Blueberry Greek Frozen Yogurt from Andreasrecipes.com will help you keep your eyes on the prize. (The yogurt is Greek – see what we did there?) Or, try WhatMegansMaking.com’s Greek Yogurt with Warm Black and Blueberry Sauce. For taste and health it gets – that’s right – a perfect ten.
New Diet, Cancer & Bowel Health Studies You Shouldn’t Ignore
According to Dr. David B. Agus, author of The End of Illness, we are on the cusp of a health revolution.
Through biomedical engineering, understanding our DNA, and mapping the proteins in our blood, we’ll know 1) our predisposition for a variety of illnesses 2) our nutritional deficiencies, and 3) our nutritional prescription for preventing those diseases. According to Agus, this revolution will endow us with the data we desperately need to optimize our individual health.
If we’re lucky, such personalized medicine will be available in our lifetime. But until we all have access to our biological profile, along with the sound medical advice to parse the data and allow us to individualize our nutrition, we must opt for the best health and nutrition advice we have – the kind known to work best for a broad population.
We know that improving the way we eat can be the best preventative medicine. Real foods deliver nutritional benefits the most efficient, safest way: without shortcuts. While we wait for science to help deliver the perfect, tailored preventative diet, eating real food to get the nutrition we need, and staying up-to-date about new technologies that can improve our health is our best strategy.
Part of that strategy includes absorbing health research that applies to you. Not sure what does? You probably already know a lot about your personal health. You may know if you have a genetic predisposition to certain illnesses. You know if you are experiencing health challenges. You also know that you are committed to prevention that will lengthen your life.
That knowledge is the first powerful step toward creating your own personal health profile and eating a diet that prevents and battles illness.
Health News That Might Just Be Crucial to Your Health
What recent research impacts your personal health? The following list includes some valuable new research about health, and their common denominator is wild blueberries. Their anti-inflammatory phytonutrients and powerfully concentrated nutrients make wild blueberries an ideal Rx for general prevention, as well as for body weight issues, maintaining heart health, bowel and digestive problems, and a particularly rare form of breast cancer.
Body Weight & Heart Health. Torching belly fat is not just a matter of looking good– there’s much more at stake than fitting into your skinny jeans. Belly fat is an indicator that you may be at risk of heart disease and type-2 diabetes. Belly fat boosts inflammation and hardens arteries. And, If your waist size is more than half your height, you’re at higher risk for developing diabetes. Phytonutrients, which are responsible for the dark pigment in fruits like blueberries, are uniquely helpful in lowering the risk of heart disease and type-2 diabetes. Wild blueberries in the diet also correlate to lower cholesterol and improved glucose control, and offer concentrated nutrition for few calories (just 42 belly-flattening calories in ½ cup).
Bowel Health. If bowel health is a concern for you, you are among thousands of suffers. As Western diets proliferate throughout the globe, the numbers appear to grow. A new report published in Nutrition
about the nutrition and bowel health connection provides some promising news for those suffering with a common bowel disorder, Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Recent research shows broccoli or blueberries (both were studied in this research performed on mice) may decrease bacteria strains, reduce e. coli, and improve intestinal damage. Colon inflammation tended to be lower for both broccoli and blueberry-fed mice, and tended toward being even lower for those fed blueberries.
This comes on the heels of research into blueberry and gut health that shows that wild blueberries may support intestinal balance and may be helpful in increasing beneficial bacteria (particularly in studies of blueberry powder).
Triple-Negative Breast Cancer. We reported this groundbreaking City of Hope study in a recent post, which explains the promising conclusions that blueberries may slow down the growth of, or stop, triple-negative breast cancer tumors. Triple-negative breast cancer is one of the most aggressive types of breast cancer. It doesn’t respond to traditional cancer treatment, and there are few effective drugs available to combat it. Such a discovery would have a major impact on those with this devastating disease, and those at risk for it.
But there’s no need to wait to start a disease-fighting regimen: there is overwhelming agreement in the scientific community that efforts to lower the risk of breast cancer should involve eating blueberries, along with a variety of fruits and vegetables. Initial studies credit, again, phytochemicals, found in uniquely high concentrations in wild blueberries, for evidence that they might suppress the proliferation and migration of these cancer cells in humanly-consumable doses. In a world of quick-fix supplements and bottled nutritional tinctures, that a preventative for this deadly form of cancer is widely available seems nothing short of a miracle.
A Bit About Wild
While some research focusing on the power of blueberries utilizes the high-bush berry, many target the wild blueberry, or low-bush blueberry, for their nutritional research. Rightly so. It is important to understand that the smaller wild blueberry (wild blueberries will always include the “wild” moniker) has advantages that the cultivated, or high-bush blueberry doesn’t. If you are interested in amplified nutrition (not to mention amped-up taste), choosing the smaller, nutritionally-concentrated wild is essential.
Wild blueberries have a long health history. They are an indigenous fruit grown wild in barrens of Maine and parts of Canada for hundreds of years, and their natural resistance nurtured by rugged soil and challenging weather has made them an enormously powerful fruit with naturally intense nutritional benefits. There is simply no reason not to choose wild—wild blueberries have an increased concentration of these beneficial phytonutrients, and that means you are consuming more health benefits per serving. Opting for berries other than wild is a nutritionally senseless compromise.
An Ounce of Prevention: Today’s Pound of Cure
While scientists continue to conduct research into cures for challenging illness, they often come up with more mysteries. As many nutrition researchers indict environment, Western diets, and genetics, cures remain elusive. It is prevention that will lengthen our life. Fortunately, prevention is achievable by taking advantage of the readily available foods that surround us, both in their fresh, and equally beneficial frozen states.
Until we can take targeted preventative measures based on our personal health profile, health and nutrition gained through real foods offer their own innate, naturally powerful benefits. Eating wild blueberries as part of a broad color spectrum of fruits and vegetables, may be one of the best preventative tactics we have available to us.
What is a flash mob for fruit? It’s an inspiring hat’s off to edible color!
The credit for this creative way to promote the health benefits of servings, in their rainbow of colors, goes to the kids at an elementary school in Norfolk, Virginia. We love that this raucous crowd includes a giant “hollah!” for blue fruit (and a dancing blueberry at 2:20). Great job, mob!
Consider the surprise of grocery store shoppers (try the chips and snacks aisle for a little nutritional irony) or fast food restaurants when you and your mobbers go all in to flaunt the wonders of fruit. We’re not suggesting anarchy…but a flash mob for fruit might be just the reminder we need that getting our servings of high nutrition, high antioxidant content, and a deep, bright, variety of color is crucial to health and disease prevention. As Norfolk Elementary would say, Whoo Whoo Blueberries! Whoo Whoo Apples!
How to Organize a Fruit Flash Mob:
1) Know your purpose.
Your mob should make a point and be fun, too. Touting fruit and veggie servings? Find a way to make your position clear in a way that is satirical and entertaining.
2) Get a mob.
Large mobs can be assembled on social media sites like flashmob.com, but smaller mobs can be found with a bunch of willing friends. Large spaces usually require large numbers – a New York City street needs at least 50 – but smaller venues work fine with 10 or more.
3) Choreograph a dance, or write or adapt a song.
Mobs must be original and lively, and that can be accomplished best by dancing or singing. Other types of creative mobs include freeze mobs, mime mobs of Guinness Record mobs.
4) Prepare.
Provide clear instructions to your mob to ensure accuracy and timing, and then rehearse. Mobs do best when participants join gradually – start with a leader and let the others join in 1-3 at a time, until everyone is participating.
5) Check for safety.
Safety or legal restrictions are a must for flash mobs. Check your location first to make sure you are not blocking others from their activity or obstructing exits. Flash mobs should surprise and delight, not hinder.
6) Remember to blend.
The key to a successful flash mob is pretending that nothing happened. Be sure everyone blends straight-faced into the crowd when it’s over, and save the post-mortem for later.
7) Remember the video.
You’ll want to upload it to YouTube.com, post it on your blog and twitter account, or keep it for posterity and inspiration to others.
Think you can outdo Norfolk Elementary’s Fruit Flash Mob?Organize your own and send the results to [email protected]. We’ll post the video on Wild About Health and let our readers be the judge!
Last month, Midcoast Maine was a hotbed of exciting, innovative research into some of the most urgent areas of health. Bar Harbor, Maine hosted the 14th annual Wild Blueberry Research Summit this August, an event devoted exclusively to continued research into the role of wild blueberries in critical areas of health.
At the Health Summit, top scientists from the U.S. and Canada, collectively known as the “Bar Harbor Group,” come together each year to present compelling new data to substantiate the connection between a blueberry-rich diet and prevention of diseases like Alzheimer’s, heart disease, and diabetes. This year’s Summit once again delivered on the promise of this heralded little fruit.
Widely known as a “brain food” because of its positive effect on brain health as well as for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant abilities, the wild blueberry continues to be under the microscope as it expands its nutritional promise into areas such as metabolic syndrome, heart and blood vessel health, and diabetes. Researchers who participate in the Summit share current findings from clinical trials and pilot studies, and explore opportunities for future collaborations as they relate to the the berry’s disease-fighting potential.
More than ever, at the heart of this year’s Summit was the impact of diet on our health, our medical care, and our communities. With a nation that is collapsing under the burden of obesity and nutrition-related health issues, it is an important time for nutritional research. The idea that some of the answers to a considerable community health crisis could be found in a little blue globe of fruit is as remarkable as it is exciting. At the center of these discoveries are leading U.S. and Canadian researchers who are active in the fields of neuroscience, aging, cardiovascular disease, cancer, eye health and other health-related areas. Meeting together in Maine, in the middle of wild blueberry country after the harvest season, is particularly fitting.
Part of the compelling new research presented at the Summit included work from Dr. Robert Krikorian of the University of Cincinnati into the connection between wild blueberries and cognitive ability. Krikorian reported on two clinical studies which investigated the effect of a diet supplemented with wild blueberry juice on memory and brain function. Adults in the study had Mild Cognitive Impairment, a risk condition for Alzheimer’s disease.
Krikorian and his team treated subjects with 15 to 21 ounces of wild blueberry juice per day. Mood and memory were tested, and findings indicated that the subjects had improved recall and improved learning after 12 weeks. While these early findings require more study, initial results suggests a relationship between the regular consumption of blueberry juice and improved brain function.
Other research presented at the Summit included work from Barbara Shukitt-Hale from the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging concerning memory and motor function, Dr. Ana Rodriguez-Mateos of the Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences at the U.K.’s University of Reading into wild blueberry consumption and blood vessel function, and Dr. Catherine M. Champagne, Professor of Nutritional Epidemiology/Dietary Assessment at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge into the positive effect of blueberry diet on insulin sensitivity. You can read about some of the Summit’s highlights by reading Annual Health Summit Reveals Promising Benefits of Wild Blueberries.
Each time the Bar Harbor Group comes together, the excitement in the nutritional and scientific fields intensifies. While some of the studies presented at the Summit are in their beginning stages, sharing pilot studies and ongoing clinical trials with such significant potential is the key to moving nutritional research forward and understanding the connections between wild blueberries and disease – especially when they concern diseases that have such a widespread and devastating effect on our population.
Studies into wild blueberries and diseases of aging have already yielded important results. In fact, it’s been since 1998 that these researchers have gathered in Maine to share their data, and past Summits have revealed studies that found positive connections between wild blueberries and satiety, insulin sensitivity, and depression. (Find out more about what we already know about the health benefits of wild blueberries.)
Scientists who study health and nutrition are passionate about understanding wild blueberries’ potential in preventing age-related diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s. To what extent they can prevent or forestall these diseases is the mission of researchers like those in attendance at the Summit this year.
It’s an exciting time for the wild blueberry! Find information on research from this year’s Summit at WildBlueberries.com, or read more about the scientists that make up the Bar Harbor Group and their work in the field of disease prevention and healthy aging.
With ample evidence that frozen is just a good as fresh when it comes to getting delicious, healthy fruits into your diet, you might still hear that voice in the back of your head – the one hanging on to the notion of “fresh” – the one that makes you feel that during the winter months when produce shelves are wanting, frozen is a necessary compromise.
It’s understandable. Fresh is great, and it has long been a mantra for healthy eaters. And, old notions of frozen – those established prior to quick freezing technology – can bring to mind ideas of ice-encased foods that lack taste or nutritional value. But those ideas are old-school. A rising interest in competitive prices and low waste, along with an effort by consumers to raise the bar on their nutrition has only contributed to making frozen, well, cool.
It’s important to get your servings of fruits and veggies. They are simply the best avenue to maintaining weight, improving health, and preventing disease. So, in an effort to reinforce what those who enjoy their fruit every season of the year already know, we’re debunking some frozen myths (using the wild blueberry as a case in point) that will help even fresh fanatics turn toward the freezer section.
Myth #1: Frozen isn’t as nutritious as fresh.
Not so. In fact, this myth has been proven to be untrue for quite a while. Way back in 1998, the Food & Drug Administration confirmed that frozen fruits and vegetables provide the same essential nutrients and health benefits as fresh – great news for those seeking year-round healthy foods. Consider this: wild blueberries top the ORAC chart of 40 tested foods, making them the #1 antioxidant fruit – fresh or frozen – it makes no difference.
Myth #2: OK, but frozen definitely isn’t better than fresh.
This one may surprise you: Quick frozen foods like wild blueberries actually can be. They retain their nutritional value longer, and they are preserved at their peak, not before. Since development of a technology known as the individually quick-frozen (IQF) method, foods can be frozen when they are at their peak of freshness. Some fresh-sold fruits are picked early to ensure they won’t spoil during the long shipping and storage, but not those that are quick-frozen. And, their value doesn’t deteriorate during storage periods, something that is inevitable with fresh-sold fruit. The ability to be captured at their peak of taste, ripeness and nutrition means everything you like about your favorite fruits is captured and locked in for the duration.
Myth #3: Frozen means a glob of ice.
Chalk this one up to quick freezing technology as well. IQF means the integrity of delicate foods like berries is completely preserved. The wild blueberry, for example, as small as it is, holds its shape and texture through the quick freezing method. Because the “I” in IQF stands for Individual, frozen berries maintain their identities – they don’t glob together in balls of ice. They maintain their quality for more than two years, too. So, if you still think using frozen foods means chopping through the tundra, think again.
Myth #4: I cook, and frozen is harder to use.
This is simply not the case. Performance is first class for IQF fruit. For example, blueberries have superior performance when used in recipes, and retain their structure even better while frozen – and they can be used in most recipes that call for blueberries. Plus, frozen is a better choice for concocting frosty, nutritious smoothies. (Also, did you know frozen wild blueberries have less water than cultivated blueberries, making them the better choice for most recipes?)
Myth #5: Big frozen packages just aren’t convenient.
Don’t kid yourself. Single servings are easy to extract from the freezer for use in meals, in recipes, or for snacking. Stand-up bottoms with resealable zip pouches are available for some premium products. And, frozen is always there when you want it – whenever you need a cup, a scoop or a sprinkle. What could be more convenient?
Myth #6: Frozen fruit isn’t premium quality.
Debunked. The most popular frozen fruit brands use only premium fruit for freezing, yielding a consistently superior product.
Myth #7: With frozen, I don’t know what I’m getting.
Frozen fruit is just that: fruit. Unless the label says otherwise, frozen fruits like blueberries contain one ingredient. They have no caloric syrups and additives, and are just pure, unadulterated, nutrient-rich fruit.
Myth #8: Impressive. So, frozen must be more expensive.
Not a chance. Frozen fruits are usually found at a remarkable value when compared to in-season pricing. And, you can buy them in economically sound bulk packages knowing that no aging or spoiling means no waste, adding to the economic benefit.
Forgoing fruit during the long winter season? How uncool. Now is no time to compromise on your health. Every season is the perfect season for taste and nutrition – go frozen!
Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of diabetes, affects millions of Americans. As waistlines increase and diets degrade, the Type 2 diabetes diagnosis rate continues to grow in this country. And, it is being diagnosed at unprecedented and alarming rates in children. This chronic disease, marked by high levels of glucose in the blood, puts those who have it at lifelong risk of heart disease, stroke and other serious complications including eye, skin, and kidney disease.
Is managing this disease in our hands?
Recently, research published in The Archives of Internal Medicine concluded that intensive lifestyle changes, which include significant modifications in diet and exercise, can improve blood sugar levels in those with diabetes risk. Healthy eating, it implied, including eating foods high in nutrients and antioxidants, can assuage symptoms and reduce risk factors. Those reporting on the study have gone so far as to say that diet and exercise trump diabetes drugs.
People who live with diabetes often require insulin (or the increasingly popular pills) to control the disease, and no one should forgo doctor-prescribed medication whether for diabetes, high blood pressure, or cardiovascular disease. At the same time, a recent editorial in Boston Globe tells it like it is when it comes to the degree to which we are helping ourselves prevent disease. We know about the need for fruits and veggies to maintain health, prolong life, and reduce obesity that puts us at risk for diseases like diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers, it says. But we simply aren’t listening.
Despite our crumbling health, we are eating fewer fruits and vegetables now than we were ten years ago, and no state is achieving the nation’s dietary goals.
What will it take for us to help ourselves?
It’s time to get serious and forgo the enticing taste combinations, colorful packaging, and convenience of processed foods and fast foods. It’s time to eat life-giving, disease-preventing fruits and vegetables.
Blueberries & Diabetes
In October’s issue of The Journal of Nutrition, exciting new research concerning blueberries and their impact on risk for Type 2 diabetes was published. The study found that daily consumption of whole blueberries helped people with a high risk for Type 2 diabetes reduce that risk. It was the bioactives in blueberries that made the difference—those chemical food compounds that have a health effect on our bodies. They increased the participants’ insulin sensitivity, a key factor in preventing the disease.
This research contributes to a body of growing evidence that supports the idea that adding this powerful fruit to our diet can have significant positive health effects. Even more exciting is what the subjects of this study did.
They drank a smoothie every day.
No injections, no unreasonable fruit intake – just a smoothie. As Nutrition Advisor Susan Davis, MS, RD points out, it’s something that is easily replicated every day by anyone with access to basic smoothie ingredients. There are myriad combinations that quickly and easily make super-palatable snacks, breakfasts or meals. What could be better news for those struggling with strict dietary requirements or just looking to enhance health through food?
Diabetes Superfoods
The American Diabetes Association has valuable news and research about diabetes, including diabetes basics, information on living with the disease, and help in figuring out what you can eat if you are at risk or have the disease. They also list their top Diabetes Superfoods.
While these foods often appear on healthy food lists for anyone looking to invigorate their health through food, they are particularly powerful and work well with a diabetes meal plan. They have a low glycemic index and provide key nutrients often missing in the diets of those who have diabetes (and any American consumer for that matter). Berries are touted here (all types, though we know that blues have more nutrient-rich skin per serving) – along with leafy greens, nuts, and yogurt.
If you, like millions of Americans, are at risk for diabetes, there’s only one thing to do: throw on your lab coat and put yourself under the microscope. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime to have your own personal health breakthrough.
Drink to your health!
Enjoy these super-powerful, super-delicious smoothie ideas: Try a fresh Apple Smoothie, indulge in good fat with an Avocado Smoothie, or combine blueberries with bananas with this classic Banana Smoothie. This Coconut Smoothie captures a favorite flavor, and Wild Blueberry Soy Shake is good health in a glass. Mix up some good health! Enjoy!
The nutrient-rich blueberry has been lauded as an antioxidant powerhouse and true “superfruit”. It consistently tops the lists of nutritionists and scientists alike as one of the healthiest foods for anti-aging and disease prevention. Owed to the high concentrations of nutrients in its deep blue skin, especially in the smaller wild berry, the blueberry’s antioxidant properties contribute to heart, brain and vision health, and serve as a powerful defense against cancer.
At the Plants for Human Health Institute at North Carolina State University, the blueberry is at the heart of some of the most exciting research involving human health and plant food crops. Director Mary Ann Lila’s dedication to revealing even more of its nutritional mysteries has lead efforts that aim to uncover major scientific discoveries in the fields of health and nutrition. In fact, she considers the blueberry a cohesive force at the Institute.
“Blueberry projects have tied together different teams on the campus that otherwise would not be likely to work together,” said Lila of the unique role blueberries play at the school’s Research Campus. “For example, the blueberry genomics research and the phytochemical characterization research that we are conducting here at the Plants for Human Health Institute, North Carolina State University, links us very closely with researchers at University of North Carolina – Charlotte (the bioinformatics and transcriptomics researchers), with NC A&T University (the postharvest quality researchers) and with UNC-Chapel Hill’s Nutrition Research Institute (the epigenetics and human cognitive research).”
The ambitious project Lila refers to involves mapping the blueberry’s genome. Collaborations with researchers around the state offer significant support of resources and technology when it comes to such large scale projects. Ultimately, one of the goals of PHHI is the development of mainstream fruit and vegetable produce with enhanced health benefits. As part of this mission, researchers are engaged in identifying the blueberry’s genetic code in an effort to ultimately enhance breeding lines. It’s one of the most exciting studies the institute is engaged in, said Lila.
In addition, blueberry-themed research has contributed to the strong relationship with The David H. Murdock Research Institute, a non-profit institute designed to support research at the North Carolina Research Campus. And, it has been the catalyst for a new USDA program on blueberry health benefits and individualized nutrition. Lila credits research involving blueberries for stimulating staff expansions and for the decision to embed USDA researchers on the campus to work on integration of blueberry research at the plant, animal, and human clinical levels – a program that looks at responders and non-responders to different classes of phytochemicals. “Getting blueberries in there at the ground floor level has helped to spur momentum for research at the institute,” Lila said. “It is exciting. It dovetails and synergizes with what we are already doing and makes us a tour de force for blueberry research worldwide.”
A recently publicized area of interest at the institute has been research concerning metabolic syndrome, a combination of medical disorders responsible for increased risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Working with wild blueberry fruit compounds known as anthocyanins, Lila led a team of researchers that demonstrated that blueberry phytochemicals helped alleviate hyperglycemia in rodent models, a condition associated with and metabolic syndrome, and also diabetes. (You can read more about this research in Phytomedicine, 2009 May; 16(5): 406-15.)
This past summer, Lila and her team presented exciting new research as part of the Wild Blueberry Research Summit in Bar Harbor, Maine. The Summit is an annual meeting of leading researchers and scientists that gather to share their research findings and to explore opportunities for future collaboration. The presentation concerned ongoing in-vitro studies into the connection between blueberry components and Parkinson’s. Parkinson’s is an incurable disease involving neuron loss, and Lila said the research concerns protection against such neurodegeneration. “The best defense for Parkinson’s is prevention, and the research is showing how in particular the anthocyanin pigments are protective against neuronal death.”
Poised for growth and alive with the potential to drive wide-ranging changes in how we eat and think about food, the PHHI is the perfect place for a blueberry to be. With major projects underway involving farmer’s markets, greenhouses, state-of-the-art labs, genome mapping and dedicated scholars with a passion for plant food crops, the bottom line is that if you are keeping your eye on health, you’d be wise to keep the work of PHHI and Dr. Mary Ann Lila in view.
You may have seen references to them on your orange juice or yogurt carton. You may know about them because you are making efforts to lower high cholesterol. They are phytosterols, otherwise know as plant sterol and stanol esters, or simply sterols and stanols. They are naturally occurring compounds found in plant cell membranes, and they come with an interesting benefit. Because phytosterols are structurally similar to the body’s cholesterol, when they are consumed, they compete with cholesterol for absorption in the digestive system. As a result, cholesterol absorption is blocked, and blood cholesterol levels are reduced.
Because of this natural process, consuming phytosterols in recommended quantities has been shown to lower total cholesterol up to 10 percent and LDL (that’s your bad cholesterol) up to 14 percent. Here is the FDA’s health on phytosterols:
“Foods containing at least 0.65 gram per serving of vegetable oil plant sterol esters, eaten twice a day with meals for a daily total intake of at least 1.3 grams, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease.”
A Satisfying Middle Ground?
It’s easy to understand why phytosterols are in fashion – this natural process has the potential to be very valuable for those of us trying to keep our heart healthy and our cholesterol at less than dangerous levels. And, phytosterols have the potential to offer a satisfying middle ground: a natural way to improve cholesterol that falls between just eating right and taking medication. As always, there are some things worth keeping in mind when it comes to sterols and stanols. Here’s the run-down:
Reduction in cholesterol occurs with regular use.
According to the American Heart Association, maximum effects are achieved at 2 grams per day – more than this does not provide more benefits.
They simply don’t replace medications – if you are at risk, eat well and keep your meds.
Recommendations are part of a healthy lifestyle. While polysterols can be helpful, for those at high risk, they can’t do they job all by themselves.
Polysterols, Where Are You?
Since the FDA claim, we can find them in more places then you might think. Polysterols can be found in whole foods and pill form, but you are most likely to encounter them in the supermarket, as part of a growing number of fortified food products.
First, phytosterols are naturally present in many whole foods. Vegetable oil, nuts, legumes, whole grains, and most fruits and vegetables have polysterols, but only in small quantities. The amount required to lower cholesterol is 500 mg per day, and these natural sources fall short. That’s when foods fortified with sterols and stanols take the stage. Popular fortified foods include butter spreads, some cooking oils, salad dressings and yogurts. Some juices, such as Minute Maid Heart Wise Orange Juice for example, are fortified, and milk, rice milks and soy milks can be as well.
The American Heart Association does not recommend sterol and stanol-fortified foods for everyone, suggesting instead that those who have been diagnosed with high cholesterol or have had a heart attack should use them. This seems counter to current consumer trends, however. Since we have come to understand that phytosterols can have a positive effect on a very ubiquitous health ailment, the expectation is that we’ll see many more foods in the supermarket that will include them. In effect, if you are in the market for phytosterols, you’ll be able to choose how you get them, whether it’s in a breakfast cereal, a snack bar – even in chocolate.
(In addition to fortified foods, supplements exist, but experts generally advise against them. The effects are simply unclear, and the benefits appear to be very small.)
Getting these beneficial phytosterols naturally or through fortified foods may seem to be a palatable compromise to taking cholesterol medication. But while supplementing the body with healthy foods is a good idea, it’s worth repeating that medication is necessary those who have proven to have a need. Stanols or sterols by themselves will simply not protect someone with risk factors. As always, it’s something to consult your doctor about to find out the best way to protect your ticker for the long term.
There’s lots of information out there to help you get informed about heart health and nutition. WebMD shows us an array of foods that will make anyone happy to be eating heart healthy with 25 Foods that Will Save Your Heart. You’ll also do well to consult the American Heart Association about guidelines and risk factors when it comes to this all important organ.
Heart Health & Wild Blueberries
Eating heart healthy foods is job one for anyone concerned about heart health and cardiovascular disease. If seeking out natural ways to increase your heart’s longevity is your mission, look no further than the wild blueberry. Here’s four heartening reasons:
A blueberry-enriched diet may protect the heart muscle from damage. Due to their ability to act as both an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent, wild blueberries can help limit heart harm that comes from aging and lifestyle.
A diet of blueberry supplementation can provide cardiovascular support. Blueberries may support cardiovascular health through reducing plasma cholesterol levels.
Blueberries may reduce the build up of so called “bad” cholesterol. By reducing buildup of LDLs, wild blueberries contribute to reducing cardiovascular disease and stroke, thanks to their powerful antioxidants.
Wild blueberries could help regulate blood pressure and combat atherosclerosis. Studies show that they have the potential to decrease the vulnerability of heart blood vessels to oxidative stress and inflammation.
Get the skinny on heart health research and other health benefits of wild. Then, take heart at the myriad ways there are to begin caring for this precious organ that is quite literally at the center of your health.
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?”
