An Extract from Healthful Blueberries Might Save Infants |
Fresh Blueberries (photo by Christina Dreesen, courtesy of morguefile.com)
Blueberries are simply delicious in pancakes, oatmeal, pastries and pies. They also happen to be one of nature’s healthiest gifts, being loaded with antioxidants.
Antioxidants are the "natural zappers" of free radicals, the unstable molecules associated with cancer, heart disease, and the effects of aging. When U.S. Department of Agriculture studies measured the antioxidant activity of more than 40 fruits and vegetables they ranked blueberries #1. The health benefits of the tasty little berries have led many people to make them part of their daily diet.
The wild blueberries of Maine contain even more antioxidants than their cultivated cousins. All it takes is a half-cup of wild blueberries to deliciously satisfy one of the recommended "five-a-day" servings of colorful fruits and vegetables. Some of the most powerful antioxidants are highly concentrated in the deep blue pigments of wild blueberries
According to an article in WebMD:
Ohio State University researchers say they found that feeding a blueberry extract to mice with blood vessel tumors safely decreased the size of the tumors and improved survival… Tumors made from the types of cells in question are found in blood vessels and affect 3% of children, the researchers say. The tumors, they add, usually occur within four weeks of birth and often affect premature infants.
Gayle Gordillo, MD, principal investigator of the Ohio State team said in a press release, "Our hope is that if we feed blueberry juice to a child with this type of tumor, we can intervene and shrink the tumor before it becomes a big problem."
If you’d like to read the WebMD article cited above go to: Blueberries May Shrink Tumors in Babies
To purchase some splendid wild blueberry products from Maine’s Bar Harbor Jam Company go to any of the following:
