Food of the Week: The Blueberry

Food of the Week:

Blueberry

Health Benefits

In the popular press, blueberries have reached superstar status in terms of their unique health benefits. While we prefer to think of all the World's Healthiest Foods as rightful superstars, we can understand many of the special accolades being given to this wonderful berry. Most health research on blueberries involves their phytonutrient content. Anthocyanins - the colorful antioxidant pigments that give many foods their wonderful shades of blue, purple, and red - are usually the first phytonutrients to be mentioned in descriptions of blueberries and their amazing health-supportive properties. While it is true anthocyanins are pretty spectacular when it comes to blueberries and their support of our body systems, there are actually a wide variety of health support phytonutrients found in blueberries. Here is list that spotlights some of the better studied of these blueberry phytonutrients:

BLUEBERRY PHYTONUTRIENTS

• Anthocyanins

• malvidins

• delphinidins

• pelargonidins

• cyanidins

• peonidins

• Hydroxycinnamic acids

• caffeic acids

• ferulic acids

• coumaric acids

• Hydroxybenzoic acids

• gallic acids

• procatchuic acids

• Flavonols

• kaempferol

• quercetin

• myricetin

• Other phenol-related phytonutrients

• pterostilbene

• resveratrol

Virtually all of the above-named phytonutrients function both as antioxidants and as anti-inflammatory compounds in the body, and they are responsible for many of the well-documented health benefits we get from regular consumption of blueberries.

Blueberries have:

Cardiovascular Benefits

Cognitive Benefits

Blood Sugar Benefits

Eye Health Benefits

Anti-cancer Benefits