The Blueberry Benefit

As with the Acai Berry, the Blueberry has been known a long time to be a health benefiting fruit. It’s a superfood loaded with antioxidants that can assist in many health issues, such as cleansing/detoxifying and losing weight.
Blueberries are common in mountainous regions of North America, for example the Cascade and Rocky Mountains. Some of the health benefits that can help to improve wellness in your body are a boost in metabolism, improvement in blood flow, detoxification, greater energy levels, and weight loss. Many who have added blueberries as a regular part of their diet have noticed these changes in their bodies.

It is good to consider adding natural foods to your regular daily diet plan. By doing so you are better able to assure yourself of getting a variety of nutrients your body needs to fight off cancer and other diseases. Many such nutrients can be found in natural foods, such as the superfood blueberries. Other foods often do no supply the same nutritional attributes as in those from nature, in their natural form.

There is antioxidant activity in blueberries. Antioxidants can help to protect your body against free radicals that have damaging effects, and chronic diseases which can assist in the aging process. Fresh fruits and vegetables—including blueberries—have in abundance many of these antioxidants, such as Vitamins C and E. Additionally, blueberries have other features that act as antioxidants, namely phenolics and anthocyanins.

Research in Boston, MA from their USDA Human Research Center on Aging, it has been found that blueberries are in rankings with the fruits that have highest of antioxidant activity. It was shown that of many other fresh vegetables and fruits, blueberries contain more of this antioxidant activity. They also discovered anti-aging components in blueberries that help slow loss of mental capacity in rats, as well as better motor skills and performance.

Anthocyanin, found in blueberries, is linked to the protection of neurons in the brain. This substance gives is what gives them their color, and possibly is the reason behind their high properties of anti-inflammatory and antioxidants. Blueberries, as with many colorful vegetables and fruits, test high in subduing cell-damaging free radicals. This process of cell membrane and DNA damage is called oxidative stress, and are said to be the cause of aging-associated diseases.

This could be important more and more as aging is an inevitable part of life. It is said that those over 65 years of age can suffer from loss of motor and cognitive functions that go along with advanced aging, and that is estimated to be over 30% of the American population by 2050. Test results have shown that those who ate at least one cup of blueberries daily did 5-6% better on performance of motor skill than others in their control groups.
Proanthocyanidins are also found in blueberries and help to promote health of the urinary tract and can prevent bacteria from attaching to cells in its wall linings to reduce infection risk.

For more info on berry diets, visit Dieting FYI.