Questioning Nutritional Research: Do We Need More Studies About Health & Nutrition?

Just before the debut of his now-popular TV show The Doctors, pediatrician Jim Sears talked to Wild About Health about wild blueberries, nutrition, and nutritional research. He reminded us that 200 years before we even knew what Vitamin C was, sailors ate lemons and limes to help prevent scurvy while they were at sea. While the sailors didn’t know the science behind what they were doing, they did know their health improved when they did it.

In some ways, consumers today are very much like those sailors. We know that the reason wild blueberries are so healthy has a lot to do with their high antioxidant capacity. But why does that help us live longer? Is it a mysterious, super-powerful anthocyanin, or is it, more likely, a balance of many compounds that work together? What else is there in wild blueberries that we haven’t even discovered yet? And if we already know they are good for us, is it really important to know why?

The Buzz About Phytos

A large amount of today’s interest in food nutrition revolves around phytonutrient (also known as phytochemical) research. The term “phytonutrients” is used to refer to the many compounds in plants that give them color, flavor and resistance to disease. They are the micronutrients beyond the more commonly known nutrients, such as proteins,fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. Some of the phytonutrients in fruits and vegetables work to provide disease protection, some act as anti-inflammatories, and some activate genes that fight cancer.

While we are used to associating foods with certain vitamins and minerals (a banana is known to be high in potassium, for example) we are less likely to associate foods with one of the hundreds of phytonutrient compounds that work to defend us against specific diseases and help us live longer. Some day, as research accumulates, perhaps we will. You may even recognize a few now (we have discussed them many times on this blog). They include anthocyanins, known for their ability to stop free radical damage, pterostilbene, known for its cholesterol lowering properties and resveratrol, known for its heart healthy properties. Wild blueberries, for example, contain nearly 100 of these compounds. They are concentrated in the berry’s intensely-colored skin, and they provide them with their blue color.

Fruits and vegetables demand attention in the lab and on our plates largely because of phytos. Researchers attempt to isolate them and understand the mechanism that prevents disease, some in order to treat disease more effectively, others with the goal of putting them into supplement form and selling them to consumers. No matter the objective, scientific research is a long and often difficult road, requiring the time and funds to replicate studies and gather data that turns cutting edge science into common knowledge. Even when there is enough evidence to support that a certain phytonutrient works specifically to fight disease in a certain part of the body, we still may not understand exactly how.

Phytonutrients contain mysteries that are yet to be uncovered. But if we already know that fruits and vegetables that contain phytos are good for us, why must we know more? Why not leave research in the lab, and continue to be like those sailors at sea?

1) Finding the Right Dose 

According to Dr. Robert Krikorian, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at University of Cincinnati, dose is an important issue in the ongoing studies into nutrition. His research into the connection between wild blueberries and cognitive ability indicates that there are reasons to believe lower, easily achievable doses can be effective in treating disease. That means regular servings of fruits and vegetables – not super doses or supplementations – are enough to make positive changes and correct deficits that are the result of a poor diet over time.

Krikorian’s message is an important one for those who may feel moderate amounts of berries, for example, won’t make a difference to their health. They may give up on nutritional efforts altogether because they are unable to afford healthy foods, have little access to them, or are not motivated enough to eat them. Understanding the power of doses, through nutritional research, can make big differences in how we think about food and how we act to mitigate today’s nutritional challenges.

2) Providing Doctors with Confidence

When doctors are armed with evidence that nutritional behaviors work, they will have the confidence to prescribe healthy food to patients faced with preventable and reversible disease such as diabetes, high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, and a myriad of others. While diet suggestions can be common in the doctor’s office, the shift to making food a disease prevention Rx has yet to reach its tipping point.

The growing body of evidence that diet has the potential to reduce chronic disease risk and promote healthy aging can reinforce, for doctors and consumers alike, that food can in fact be used as medicine. Doctors routinely come face to face with patients dealing with the repercussions of being overweight, for example – much of one’s risk of Type 2 diabetes depends on weight. According to Dr. Daniel Nadeau, Medical Director of the Diabetes and Endocrinology Associates of Maine’s York Hospital, preventing and even treating chronic disease that results from excessive weight begins with food choices. For his patients, he depends on food as prescription, and inspires them with his knowledge that making better choices works.

3) Understanding Gene Expression 

While we have yet to offer widespread access to individual gene mapping, soon it will be commonplace. Mapping our genome can help us find out whether we are at risk for certain diseases so we can take action. Because research indicates that phytonutrients act on gene expression, eating the right foods to provide a defense for health vulnerabilities can help us proactively prevent or delay disease.  If you have a family history of Alzheimer’s, for example, early research indicates that eating wild blueberries could help prevent and delay the onset of damage to the brain as you age.

Studies conducted by Dr. Dorothy Klimis-Zacas, Professor of Clinical Nutrition and lead researcher from the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Maine, Orono, have shown wild blueberries may help prevent vascular complications associated with hypertension and they may also affect gene expression. She and her team found that the berry may aid in the maintenance of a functional endothelium – the thin layer of cells that line the interior surface of blood vessels. While this may seem like arcane information only of interest to those in lab coats, in fact, studies like these are helping provide the key to our future cardiovascular health. Understanding that it is not simply antioxidants in wild blueberries that provide the benefit but the action of a certain bioactive compound can help us unlock the door to a major health concern.

Until We Know More 

Even without a map of your genome or an Rx from your doctor, it’s smart to begin a healthy diet of daily servings of functional foods to provide a path to prevention. Beginning a healthy eating regimen before disease sets in is more effective than waiting until the damage is done.  And, while studies that aim to isolate phytonutrients in foods and identify the mechanism behind their benefit are ongoing, one thing is certain: a diet that includes a healthy amount of fruits and vegetables, particularly those with deep pigments, can improve health, prevent disease, and promote healthy aging. Study after study confirms it. There is simply no reason to wait for researchers to compile more evidence to start implementing this advice now, whether we fully understand the science behind it or not.

Recent Studies You Should Know About

In Maine, the Bar Harbor Group dedicates itself to continuing nutritional research as it relates to berries. Each year, researchers and scientists from around the country gather to share ongoing research and findings about nature’s most promising foods. In past years, presentations have included research involving disease prevention and anti-aging, cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s and macular degeneration. We’ll keep you posted about this year’s summit, which took place this summer.

Wild Blueberries May Protect DNA From Damage
Juice made from wild blueberries may reduce oxidative damage to DNA by around 3% and decrease the risk of cardiovascular and degenerative diseases, suggests new data.

Berry Pigments Show Heart Health Benefits
Increased intakes of anthocyanins – antioxidant pigments from fruit and vegetables – may reduce blood vessel hardening and improve overall heart health, says a new study.

Study Unlocks Cholesterol-lowering Activity of Blueberry
The potential cardiovascular benefits of blueberry may be related to the berries’ anthocyanins interacting with bile acids to promote cholesterol reduction, suggests data from a study with hamsters.

Read more of the most recent research into the benefits of blue, including studies about vision, gut health, cancer prevention, and diabetes. 

Want a Little Belly? Try a Little Blueberry

Meet a New Belly Busting Phyto…PLUS: NEW Supermarket Guru Video! 

Interested in a more diminutive belly? You’re not alone. Growing middles are a body bane for many dieters, and it’s no coincidence. There’s a reason many of us battle belly bulge.

As we age, we naturally lose muscle, which results in more body fat, and body fat actually shifts from other parts of the body, like the arms or legs, to the middle. It’s particularly true for women, especially after menopause, due to a natural decrease in estrogen.

Belly fat isn’t just discouraging because of how it looks. Research has shown that as fat in our waists grows, so does our risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, breast cancer, colorectal cancer and stroke. Weight specifically carried in the middle can also be a factor in premature death, according to the Mayo Clinic.

The reason is “visceral fat” – fat that resides deep within our bodies and surrounds our organs. The cells of this deep, internal fat release inflammatory compounds that can affect blood pressure and cholesterol levels, lead to insulin resistance, and be a factor in causing some cancers. Having visceral fat is an indicator that you may be at risk for these and other diseases.

Are we doomed to larger bellies and a higher risk of illness as we age? No way. As stubborn as belly fat can seem, it is not resistant to diet and exercise. Following basic measures to lose weight will whittle belly fat just as it will fat on any part of the body. In fact, some nutrition experts say belly fat is first to go when you start a diet and exercise program.

The Wild Blueberry Effect

If you are ready to tackle that muffin top, making smart food choices may translate to your abs and reduce your chances of illness. According to WebMD, new research indicates that making blueberries part of your diet may correlate to less abdominal fat. If your genetic profile (or tape measure) indicates you have or are at risk of having visceral fat, eating wild blueberries is a perfectly achievable (and perfectly delicious) line of defense.

The Benefits of Blueberries: Learn more about why consumers and experts alike are embracing the blueberry.

While this promising connection between blueberries and belly fat is the result of preliminary research, we already know that the wild blueberry’s health advantages can play a role in the diseases that are exacerbated by belly weight, including heart disease and 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, and maintaining glucose control.  And of course, the nutrition-to-calorie ratio for this berry is huge. The recommended one-half cup per day provides just 42 calories along with its big health benefits, making it ideal food for belly-busting efforts.

Pterostilbene – A New Phyto to Know

Supermarket Guru Phil Lempert (see video above) reports that USDA research into a phytonutirients reveals a distinctive benefit to the blueberry – one that might shed light on its extreme health benefits. Blueberries, the report states, have high levels of pterostilbene, a phytonutrient which can help reverse the effects of heart disease and type-2 diabetes.

If you follow health and nutrition, this compound, pronounced TER-o-STIL-i-been, is one to watch. This nutritional compound is said to show cancer fighting properties, breast cancer fighting properties, and the potential to reverse cognitive impairment, among other health benefits. Pterostilbene is related to the famed resveratrol, and like resveratrol is also known for its existence in blueberries and grapes. (You can read more in this article from the USDA about pterostilbene’s healthy potential.)

When a fruit is truly super, like blueberries, which are loaded with advantageous phytonutrients, they win our trust. Lempert, an expert in predicting consumer views behavior lauds the fabulous deep blue fruit, and reports that true superfruits, like wild blueberries, are getting the thumbs up with even today’s jaded consumer.

But if your goal is a little belly, why go for a little fruit? Here’s why: phytonutients reside in the deep blue skin of the fruit, and the wild blueberry, due its small size, has a higher skin-to-pulp ratio than the larger, cultivated berry, which means you are getting the most intense nutritional benefit per serving possible. Go small! There are plenty of health benefits, and research is growing.

Do You Have Visceral Fat?

Check your BMI – While your BMI is a measurement of height and weight ratio, it doesn’t necessarily measure damaging belly fat. However, having a BMI that’s too high is an indicator that your weight can be detrimental to your health and increase your chances of life-threatening diseases.

Assess your shape – The better indicator of belly fat is whether you are an “apple” or a “pear”. If you are an “apple” – someone who has a wider waistline in relation to the rest of the body – it’s an indicator that you may be carrying visceral fat. Use the tape measure for a reality check – waist size in women should be under 35, and for men, under 40.

Know your levels (even if your thin) – Visceral fat is genetic, and you may have a tendency to have it even if you are not overweight. In fact, thin inactive people are more likely to store this internal fat. Know your cholesterol levels and blood sugar levels, first and foremost. Then reassess your eating and activity habits to counteract your genetic tendency.

Wild Blueberry Research You Should Know About

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.

Fall Colors Offer a Phytochemical Feast

Fall food, fall foliage—autumn provides a bounty of dazzling color! The season is a vibrant reminder that the best way to eat healthy and stay well is to take advantage of the edible rainbow of color that occurs naturally. Consider the bright crimson apple, the fluorescent orange squash…these flamboyant fruits and veggies are making their best case in the fall months.

It’s the doctrine of The Color Code: color is your medicine all seasons of the year. Eating deep, colorful foods in the widest spectrum is simply the best thing to do for your health. When we eat colorful foods, we’re getting the benefit of phytochemicals, and phytochemicals protect us from disease.

According to botanist Dr. James Duke, author of The Green Pharmacy, we need phytochemicals in our diet because the human body evolved with them. In many cases, says Duke, cancer and heart disease are simply a deficiency of antioxidants. “Scientists are starting to think of these diseases as a shortage of phytochemicals,” he says.

So, if it’s loaded with color, it’s loaded with disease prevention. And right now, it’s all there for the taking, so load up.  

Bewildered by Blues? Perplexed by Purples? Don’t Be.

Eating across the color spectrum can seem easy in some hues and less easy in others. Deep greens, for instance, can appear readily available, while blues and purples sometimes stump us.

But don’t be color blind to the uncommon benefits and surprising accessibility of these colors—deep purples and blues represent some of the healthiest foods under the sun. In fact, fall is the perfect time for munching away at this particular end of the spectrum. Think red cabbage and red onion for those saturated red-purple hues. Lusciously dark eggplant is a fall staple and a great representative of the purple family. And wild blueberries, the number one superfruit, is a cobalt delight—get them frozen any time of year.

Fall is awash in color! Take your penchant for leaf peeping to the produce aisle and fill your bag to the brim with all the colors of the spectrum!

For additional inspiration, see WebMD’s video about Fall Food Colors.

Spotlight On: Plants for Human Health Institute

Part Two: Betting Big on Blueberries

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.

Read Part I: Tapping Our Global Resources

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