Sales of fresh and processed blueberries have skyrocketed over the few years since scientists identified their outstandingly high antioxidant content and since media attention was captures by the intrinsic health benefits of what is popular referred to as one of nature’s superfoods.
Antioxidants help neutralize harmful by-products of metabolism called ‘free radicals’ that can lead to cancer and other age-related diseases.
Neuroscientists in USDA HNRCA lab also discovered that feeding blueberries to laboratory rats slowed age-related loss in their mental capacity, a finding that has important implications for humans.
Blueberries boast significant brain benefits, from improving cognitive functions and memory to delaying the neurological decline that occurs with aging.
Blueberries may reduce the buildup of so-called ‘bad’ cholesterol that contributes to cardiovascular disease and stroke, according to scientists at the University of California at Davis. Antioxidants are believed to be the active components.
Blueberries contain a group of flavonoids called proanthocyanidins. Proanthocyanidins have a unique capacity to protect both the watery and fatty parts of the brain against damage from some environmental toxins. Blueberry proanthocyanidins have greater antioxidant properties than vitamin C and E.
Blueberries antioxidant and health benefits
