A Medicine Chest in Your Own Refrigerator
Berries Fight for Your Health
Berries are an amazing source of nutrients. They are small, and their beneficial ingredients are packed in in high concentrations. Berries could help prevent an astonishing array of health problems. Let’s take a look, and you’ll see for yourself why you should add these tasty fruits to your daily diet.
Raspberries Take the Bite Out of Allergies
Raspberries are exceptionally high in a special ingredient called “quercetin.” Quercetin is a “bioflavonoid” that is found in foods and drinks. One of the best sources of quercitin is red wine. Medical researchers have often wondered how the rate of heart disease in France can remain so low when much of the French diet is rich in fat and cholesterol. The researchers found an answer to this paradox in red wine and its ability to protect crucial arteries.
Quercetin is a natural antioxidant, which means that it is great for preventing free-radical damage. This is the sort of damage that can cause heart disease and high cholesterol, among many other things. In this way, quercitin is thought to protect against strokes and heart attacks.
Along with its heart-protective effects, researches have now discovered that the antioxidant may be able to stop your immune cells from releasing histamine. Histamine is the culprit that triggers your body’s defense mechanisms against an allergen, causing the symptoms of sneezing, itching and swelling. The theory is in its early stages, but results are hopeful so far. In clinical trials, quercitin is most used to combat hay fever.1
Other fruits and veggies that contain quercitin are apples, red grapes, citrus fruits, cherries, onions, leafy salad greens and broccoli.
Blueberries Keep Your Memory Sharp
Blueberries are chock full of nutrients and make a delicious snack any time of day. When you eat a handful of blueberries, you are getting an amazing dose of disease-fighting antioxidants. In fact, one serving of blueberries gives you the same amount of antioxidants as five servings of carrots, apples, broccoli or squash!
Blueberries are a powerhouse when it comes to fighting disease. They give you the same protection as taking vitamin-C and vitamin-E supplements—and they taste a whole lot better, too.
Blueberries have traditionally been an important part of the Native American diet. Native Americans have long known about the preservative properties of blueberries, pounding them into dried meat to slow the rate of spoilage. They also used blueberries to make medicines to treat diarrhea and to ease the discomfort of childbirth.
The Disease-fighting Nutrients in Blueberries:
• Anthocyanidins
• Ellagic acids
• Fiber
• Flavonols
• Manganese
• Polyphenols
• Tannins
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin E
Not surprisingly, medical health experts have used blueberries in a number of clinical trials aimed at documenting the amazing health benefits of this tiny fruit. In one animal clinical trial, blueberries were found to protect against age-related memory loss in mice.2
The brain-boosting power of blueberries is now becoming widely known. It seems that the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of blueberries have a direct effect on brain and muscle tissue function. Rats and mice that have been fed blueberries have brain cells that communicate better, less protein damage in the brain and an increased ability to develop new brain cells. Not bad for one small berry that you can pick up at your local supermarket any time of the year.
Keeping your brain healthy and functioning is not the only thing that blueberries could do for you. The “polyphenols” in blueberries could also protect against cancer.
A study was performed on cancerous cells. These cells were treated with blueberry extract. Researchers found that the blueberry extract caused cancer growth in these cells to be inhibited by almost 50%.3
Cherries Could Ease Arthritis
Cherries are sweet and tart at the same time, taste wonderful in baked goods and produce a thick and delicious juice. To top it all off, they can give a significant boost when it comes to your good health.
Researchers have stated that cherries contain 19 times the beta-carotene of blueberries and strawberries. They also contain high amounts of vitamin C, vitamin E, potassium, magnesium, iron, folate and fiber.
In clinical trials, researchers have confirmed that tart red cherries can benefit patients with autoimmune, neurodegenerative and connective-tissue diseases, particularly rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes. Results show that tart red cherries reduce pain and inflammation and help protect against cancer. These effects are caused by the phytochemicals in cherries known as “anthocyanins.”
Scientists at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, discovered that the anthocyanins in tart cherries helped reduce painful inflammation. The trial, which was performed on rats, compared the pain-relieving benefits of cherries with the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) indomethacin. The researchers believe that this effect may stem from the ability of anthocyanins to reduce oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is thought to be a major cause of autoimmune disease.4
In a related study, researchers wanted to find out if tart-cherry anthocyanins could help prevent muscle pain related to intensive exercise. Fourteen male college students were given either 12 fluid ounces of cherry juice twice a day or placebo for eight consecutive days. The participants were then evaluated for strength loss and muscle tenderness. The research team found that the young men who added tart-cherry juice into their daily diets experienced decreased symptoms of exercise-induced muscle damage. In addition, cherries may offer protection against gout, which is a painful inflammatory condition that is caused when “urate” crystals enter the fluid surrounding your joints.5
You can get cherries into your diet in a variety of ways. Try dried cherries, fresh cherries or frozen cherries. You can also drink cherry juice and cherry concentrate.
Cranberries Help Fight Cancer
Cranberry has been used for centuries by Native Americans to treat urinary-tract infections. Most likely, you’ve heard about this health benefit. Drink cranberry juice, medical experts say, and you’ll keep your urinary system healthy. Well now, cranberries not only fight infection, they could also play a vital role in the fight against cancer. Drinking a glass of cranberry juice could greatly boost an ovarian-cancer patient’s sensitivity to chemotherapy.
Researchers discovered that when they pretreated ovarian-tumor cells with cranberry juice, something quite extraordinary happened. It seems that the juice increased the cancer-killing power of drugs by as much as six times.
Chemotherapy treatment commonly uses drugs to kill tumors, but many women develop a resistance to these drugs during the course of treatment. Unfortunately, this means that they require even higher doses of drugs, putting them at risk for nerve damage and kidney failure.
The U.S. National Institutes of Health funded the study. The research team collected cancer cells from patients who had already developed a resistance to cancer drugs. They then exposed the cells to a store-bought cranberry drink that contained only 27% pure juice. All of the cancer cells were then treated with chemotherapy. It was then that researchers discovered that the cancer cells were killed at a rate that was equal to six times that of cells that didn’t get cranberry juice—pretty amazing. They also found that the juice appeared to slow the growth and spread of some cancer cells.
The Cancer-fighting Nutrients in Cranberry Juice
• Manganese
• Proanthocyanidins
• Vitamin A
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin K
The research team believes cranberry’s cancer-killing power comes from a special antioxidant called “proanthocyanidins.” This antioxidant is not found in other fruits. It appears to block the activity of tumor proteins in ovarian-cancer cells, increasing their sensitivity to chemo. The researchers cautioned that it remains to be seen whether cranberry will be just as effective outside of a lab setting.6
They don’t claim that cranberry compounds should be considered a cure for cancer, but they may very well make an excellent partner to more toxic chemo drugs. In the meantime, have a glass of cranberry juice with breakfast. You’ll at least be giving yourself an antioxidant boost, whatever future studies have to say about cranberries and cancer prevention.
Strawberries Protect Your Heart
Isn’t it great that strawberries are a superfood? They are so delicious! Strawberries are also extremely nutritious. They are high in vitamin C and contain a special compound called “ellagic acid.” Ellagic acid is believed to stop cellular changes that can happen in your body and lead to cancer. Ellagic acid is a powerful antioxidant, fighting free radicals that punch holes in healthy cells. Strawberries contain anthocyanins, too, which are brain-boosting nutrients. Also, like raspberries, they contain quercetin, which helps improve and maintain memory.
In a huge joint study between the U.S. and Norway, researchers used data from three databases at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They used the data to evaluate the association between flavonoid intake and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality.
The study participants were 34,489 postmenopausal women in the “Iowa Women’s Health Study” who were free of CVD. All of the participants had complete food-frequency questionnaire information available. The researchers compared the intakes of total flavonoids and the subsequent occurrence of CVD. They found that the flavonoids in strawberries were associated with a reduced risk of death from heart disease.7
The Heart-protecting Nutrients in Strawberries:
• Anthocyanins
• Ellagic acid
• Fiber
• Flavonoids
• Folate
• Iodine
• Manganese
• Potassium
• Vitamin B2
• Vitamin C
Strawberries can also help with constipation. Strawberries contain large amounts of insoluble fiber, which is very absorbent. Because the fiber is so absorbent, it draws quite a lot of water into your intestines. This makes your stools heavier, and heavier stools pass through the intestines faster, which, in turn, eases constipation.
Strawberries could also help keep your eyes healthy. Their high vitamin-C content could help prevent cataracts from forming.
One helpful hint about strawberries: they do not ripen once picked, so make sure that the berries are red with a moderately soft flesh. Strawberries lose vitamin C quickly when cooked or even sliced. An enzyme is released that quickly destroys vitamin C. Eat strawberries fresh, and keep them whole with the green caps on until just before you eat them.
Also, strawberries are, unfortunately, a common cause of allergic reactions. If you get hives or other symptoms after eating strawberries, try this: run hot water over them and then immediately follow this with cold water. It is believed that the “fuzz” on strawberries causes hives. This hot-and-cold rinse should remove the fuzz.
Bilberries Brighten Your Vision
Most people will admit to not being able to see as well at night, but really, as your eyes adjust to the light, you should be able to see shapes and figures and a certain amount of detail—even when it’s very dark. “Night blindness” occurs when you cannot make out these shapes or when your vision is distorted in dim lighting. There’s actually no full “blindness” experienced in this disease, but rather a type of reduced vision. So, night blindness (either “night myopia” or “nyctalopia”) is an impaired ability to see at night even though vision is normal in sunlight.
To understand night blindness a little better, here’s a quick primer on how your eyes “see” at night. Your eye is made up of rods (light-sensitive cells that are needed for night vision) and cones. In the retina, there’s an abundance of rods. However, there are several minerals and vitamins that are needed to keep the rods healthy, and if they are deprived, they degenerate. This causes an impaired ability to see when there is minimal light. Fortunately, some things help increase your seeing power when it gets dark.
Being able to see at night is just as important as being able to see during the day. After-all, for those living in northern climates, daylight can be gone by 5:00 or 6:00 pm for much of the year. Socializing, community involvement and activities can all take place after the dinner hour. Not being able to see once the sun goes down can have a huge impact on the quality of your life. Protecting and keeping your night vision is something that you may want to think about.
Your eyes require a lot of nutrients to stay healthy. In fact it is estimated that 25% of the nutrients that you absorb from the foods that you digest go toward maintaining your visual system! As you age, you may not be getting or absorbing enough nutrients from your diet. When you combine this with the fact that certain muscles in the eyes weaken with age, before you know it, your night vision has decreased noticeably.
What can you do to preserve your vision? Try supplementing your diet with some bilberries. Bilberries are high in a number of nutrients that can benefit eye health.
A recent clinical trial found that bilberries increased “oxygen radical absorbance capacity” (ORAC) levels—meaning that bilberries helped fight vision-threatening damage to the eyes.8 Bilberries also increased vitamin-C levels, as well as helping with copper/zinc and manganese absorption (other important minerals in eye health). That’s a pretty amazing collection of benefits all found in one little berry!
Take a look around and see if you can find some bilberries—if not, go for blueberries and raspberries. All berries are good for eye health and should be eaten regularly.
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