. Promising Health Benefits of Wild Blueberries Include Anti-aging, Cancer Prevention, Heart & Vision Health
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Recent discoveries attribute potential health benefits to antioxidants such as anthocyanin, anti-inflammatories and other natural compounds found in the deep blue pigment of Wild Blueberries. Ongoing studies are focused on:
Recent discoveries attribute potential health benefits to antioxidants such as anthocyanin, anti-inflammatories and other natural compounds found in the deep blue pigment of Wild Blueberries. Ongoing studies are focused on:
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Antioxidant Activity
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Antioxidant Activity
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Cellular Antioxidant Activity New research shows that Wild Blueberries have the highest cellular antioxidant activity of selected fruits tested. Lead scientist Rui Hai Liu, Ph.D. used the cellular antioxidant activity (CAA) assay — a new assay developed by the Cornell University Department of Food Science — to determine antioxidant activity of antioxidants, foods, and dietary supplements. Wild Blueberries performed better in cells than cranberries, apples, red and green grapes. Antioxidant have been linked with anti-aging, anti-cancer and heart-health benefits.
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2007; 55 (22), 8896-8907.
Fighting Oxidative Stress
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USDA scientists recently concluded that eating Wild Blueberries and other antioxidant-rich foods at every meal helps prevent oxidative stress. This study advances antioxidant research by moving beyond the measurement of antioxidants in foods to actual examination of the performance of specific fruits against oxidative stress in the body. Oxidative stress is linked to chronic diseases and aging.Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 2007 Vol. 26, No. 2, 170-181
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#1 in Antioxidants
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According to recently published USDA research findings, Wild Blueberries are highest in antioxidant capacity per serving, compared with more than 20 other fruits. Using a lab testing procedure called Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC), USDA researcher Ronald Prior, Ph.D., showed that a one-cup serving of Wild Blueberries had more antioxidant capacity than a serving of cranberries, strawberries, plums, raspberries and even cultivated blueberries. Antioxidants have been linked with anti-aging, anti-cancer and heart-health benefits. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2004, 52: 4026-4037
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(Make them wild if you can,and come to Alaska to pick them. --sparker)
By Doug O'Harra
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Talk about living off the fat of the land. Alaska’s wild berries — especially the blueberry species that emerge from countless tundra slopes and forest glades — may be one of nature’s miracle foods, chock full of powerful nutrients that feed the brain and protect the nervous system from old-age breakdown.
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New research has continued to show that blueberries, along with walnuts and strawberries and certain other fruits and nuts, contain high concentrations of antioxidant chemicals that can actually protect the brain from neuron-damaging substances known as free radicals.
In some cases, exposure to blueberry extracts reversed age-triggered ailments in lab animals, according to a story posted online by Society for Neuroscience.
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In some cases, exposure to blueberry extracts reversed age-triggered ailments in lab animals, according to a story posted online by Society for Neuroscience.
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And so, scarfing down gobs of Alaska blueberries, walnuts and other foods appears to improve cognition, maintain brain function and possibly help treat brain disorders, the story says.
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While much of the story concentrates on research into the power of walnuts, conducted by James Joseph, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center at Tufts University in Boston, one section focuses on neurological studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks into blueberry magic.
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UAF researcher Thomas Kuhn has discovered that Alaska wild bog blueberries simply drip with elixirs that combat inflammation in the central nervous system.
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Brain and spinal inflammation goes along with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS, multiple sclerosis and other chronic degenerative diseases. You can even find inflammation in some mental illnesses or appearing during normal aging.
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Bog blueberries appear to contain compounds that pair up with with a certain protein molecule in neurons, and this biochemical dance in turn “reduces detrimental effects of inflammation” that make these conditions worse.
Bog blueberries appear to contain compounds that pair up with with a certain protein molecule in neurons, and this biochemical dance in turn “reduces detrimental effects of inflammation” that make these conditions worse.
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Here’s more detail, somewhat technical:
Understanding the interaction of these compounds could lead to the development of new drug therapies that would diminish inflammation of the brain and spinal cord.
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Here’s more detail, somewhat technical:
Understanding the interaction of these compounds could lead to the development of new drug therapies that would diminish inflammation of the brain and spinal cord.
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While the health benefits of fruits and vegetables are largely attributed to polyphenols, molecules with strong antioxidant potential, Kuhn says that, surprisingly, the compounds in Alaska blueberries discovered in their study are neither antioxidants nor polyphenols, yet rather serve as specific inhibitors.
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Using a cell-based model of nueroinflammation, Kuhn’s lab exposed neuronal cells to tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFa), a pivotal factor mediating inflammation in the brain and spinal cord. Exposure of neuronal cells to TNFa rapidly stimulates a cascade of reactions, which ultimately leads to the death of neuronal cells.
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The application of Alaska blueberry extracts to neuronal cells effectively prevented the degeneration of neuronal cells exposed to TNFa.
“Expanding our knowledge of natural products’ health benefits and their molecular targets in the nervous system would improve preventative measures and potentially reveal new therapeutic strategies to alleviate inflammation in the brain and spinal cord,” says Kuhn.
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“Expanding our knowledge of natural products’ health benefits and their molecular targets in the nervous system would improve preventative measures and potentially reveal new therapeutic strategies to alleviate inflammation in the brain and spinal cord,” says Kuhn.
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Kuhn’s work isn’t the first time that Alaska’s wild berries have been accused of providing a sort of medical manna. Another UAF researcher, Patricia Holloway, conducted a three-year study and found extraordinarily high levels of antioxidents in blueberries, cranberries, raspberries and a basket of other wild fruits Alaskans commonly gather as late summer cools.
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The original research with fruits showed that cultivated blueberries had the highest (anti-oxident activity) levels of commercial fruit with a score of about 20. Anything above 40 is considered very high. We conducted a research project to find out how our berries compared to the standards for commercial fruit. We learned that Alaska wild berries are a rich source of antioxidants. Nearly all wild frozen berries have (a score) greater than 20.
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The original research with fruits showed that cultivated blueberries had the highest (anti-oxident activity) levels of commercial fruit with a score of about 20. Anything above 40 is considered very high. We conducted a research project to find out how our berries compared to the standards for commercial fruit. We learned that Alaska wild berries are a rich source of antioxidants. Nearly all wild frozen berries have (a score) greater than 20.
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This conclusion actually appears to be an amazing understatement. Blueberries scored 111 and high bush cranberries hit 172 on the same scale. That makes Alaska wild blueberries more than five times more powerful as antioxidants than those pretty blue orbs shrunk-wrapped in grocery produce aisle. (Even Kuhn’s bog blueberry scored 77 — packing more than three times the antioxidant jolt.)
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One company based on the Kenai Peninsula, Denali BioTechnologies, has even begun to market a health supplement that taps the power of wild berries.
One company based on the Kenai Peninsula, Denali BioTechnologies, has even begun to market a health supplement that taps the power of wild berries.
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“The good news,” Joseph said in the Society for Neuroscience story, “is that it appears that compounds found in fruits and vegetables — and, as we have shown in our research, walnuts — may provide the necessary protection to prevent the demise of cognitive and motor function in aging.”
“The good news,” Joseph said in the Society for Neuroscience story, “is that it appears that compounds found in fruits and vegetables — and, as we have shown in our research, walnuts — may provide the necessary protection to prevent the demise of cognitive and motor function in aging.”
