Blueberries and Nutrition

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The cells of your body face continual assault by free radicals, a potentially harmful type of molecule. Scientific evidence links the oxidation caused by free radicals to a host of dangerous health conditions. They can cause cancer; they encourage LDL (bad) cholesterol to adhere to your arteries; they damage collagen, encouraging skin wrinkling. Some studies indicate free radicals may even be one contributing factor to Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Anti-oxidants trap free radicals in your body, combating the effects of free radicals. One of the best dietary sources of anti-oxidants is blueberries, and the level of anti-oxidants in blueberries doesn't change even after freezing!

According to a 2006 study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, few foods can match the amount of anti-oxidants found in blueberries. Blueberries, for example, beat out fruits such as sweet cherries, grapes, oranges, raspberries, strawberries, and tomatoes, and vegetables like Brussel sprouts, cabbage, celery, kale, rutabbaga, and spinach. Moreover, the type of anti-oxidants found abundantly in blueberries (Anthocyanidins) are up to 50 times more effective at fighting free radicals than Vitamin C or Vitamin E. To equal the anti-oxidants found in just a half-cup of blueberries, you'd need to eat:
¾ cups of strawberries
1¼ cups of orange sections
2¼ cups of broccoli florets
2½ cups of chopped spinach
Dr. Ronald Prior, Laboratory Chief at the Phytochemical Laboratory at Tufts University, recommends adding a half-cup of blueberries to your daily diet. If you meet his recommendation, you'd double the amoung of anti-oxidants in the average American's daily diet.

Becoming ever more popular for their newly-discovered health benefits, blueberries have figured prominently in the diet of Native Americans for centuries. Delicious and sweet, blueberries also have loads of Vitaminc C, Manganese, and dietery fiber. Recent research at Rutgers, moreover, shows that the condensed tannins in blueberries can prevent and fight urinary tract infections. Recent studies have suggested that consuming blueberries can enhance balance, co-ordination, and short term memory, while reducing cholesterol and combating some effects of aging.

At only 80 calories, a serving of of blueberries (140 grams – 1 cup – 8 ounces) has:
1 gram of protein
1 gram of fat
0 mg of cholesterol
0 mg of sodium
17 grams of carbohydrates
4 grams of dietary fiber
15% of the recommended daily allowance for Vitamin C

"An antidote to aging may be as close as a nearby farm or the supermarket shelves: blueberries. Elderly rats fed the human equivalent of at least half-a-cup of blueberries a day improved in balance, co-ordination, and short-term memory, according to a study published this month in the Journal of Neuroscience." — (New York Times, 21 September 1999)

"After measuring more than 40 commercially available fruits and vegetables for anti-oxidant activity, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has ranked blueberries as far and away the best. According to the director of those studies, it would take five servings of fruits and vegetables such as peas, carrots, apples, squash, and broccoli to equal the anti-oxidant power of half-a-cup of blueberries." — (Los Angeles Times, 28 May 2001)

"Older animals with impairments in learning, memory, and co-ordination begin to show significant signs of improvement after a two month diet of blueberries..." — (Indianapolis Star, 2002)

"Blueberries protection against the skin damaging free radicals" — (Nashville Tennessean, 6 November 2007)

Sources:
• Ismail Ahmet, "Blueberry-Enriched Diet Protects Rat Heart from Ischemic Damage," PloS One 4 (June 2009).
• R.M. Bliss, "Nutrition and Brain Function: Food for the Aging Mind," Agricultural Research 55 (August 2007):8–13.
• Amy B. Howell et al., "Inhibition of the Adherence of P-Fimbriated Escherichia coli to Uroepithelial-Cell Surfaces by Proanthocyanidin Extracts from Cranberries," New England Journal of Medicine 339, 15 (8 October 1998):1085–1086.
• Francis C. Lau, et al., "The Beneficial Effects of Fruit Polyphenols on Brain Aging," Neurobiology of Aging 26 (December 2005):S128–S132.
• Rachel L. Galli, "Blueberry-Supplemented Diet Reverses Age-Related Decline in Hippocampal HSP70 Neuro-Protection," Neurobiology of Aging 27 (February 2006):344–350.
• J.M. Harnly, "Flavonoid Content of U.S. Fruits, Vegetables, and Nuts," Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 54 (27 December 2006):9966–9977.
• Concepcíon Sanchez-Moreno, "Effect of a Blueberry Nutritional Supplement on Macro-Nutrients, Food Group Intake, and Plasma Vitamin E and Vitamin C in US Athletes," International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition 59 (June 2008):327–338.
• Barbara Shukitt-Hale, et al., "Dietary Supplementation with Fruit Polyphenolics Ameliorates Age-Related Deficits in Behavior and Neuronal Markers of Inflammation and Oxidative Stress," Age: The Journal of the American Aging Association 27 (March 2005):49–57.
• Barbara Shukitt-Hale, et al., "Berry Fruit Supplementation and the Aging Brain," Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 56 (13 February 2008):636–641.
• S.H. Smith, "Anti-Mutagenic Activity of Berry Extracts," Journal of Medicinal Food 7 (Winter 2004):450–455.
• K.A. Youdim, "Potential Role of Dietary Flavonoids in Reducing Micro-Vascular Endothelium Vulnerability to Oxidative and Inflammatory Insults," Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry 13 (May 2002):282–288.