Blaine and Leona attended the annual North American Strawberry Growers Association (NASGA) conference last week in Savannah, Georgia. As President of the NASGA Research Foundation, Blaine was particularly interested in a presentation on the health benefits of berries. The Berry Health Institute’s current research is not only showing significant benefits to consuming berries, it is using cutting-edge science to provide a deeper look into the data.
“They had already determined there are certain phytochemicals that make the berries healthy (natural compounds in plants), but now they’ve been able to detect what is taking place in a person’s bloodstream after they’ve eaten berries,” said Blaine. “They knew from prior research that people who eat more fruits and vegetables are healthier, but they’ve recently determined why. The phytochemicals are digested by bacteria in your gut and the resulting metabolites are the beneficial chemicals in your bloodstream. They can now detect which of these metabolites are a result of eating berries.”
When present, those particular metabolites can have profound benefits, including lowering blood pressure, controlling blood sugar, weight management, reduced inflammation, enhanced brain function and support for gut heath – all while being low in calories. Eating a mix of different types of berries is a good idea – blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and, of course, strawberries – our favourite.
“The other thing they discovered is if you just eat berries and are sedentary, those metabolites don’t increase. The benefits occur if you eat the berries and then are active – it doesn’t take a lot of activity, even a 20 minute walk. Take a walk to pick your berries!”
Researchers studied athletes to measure the metabolites in their blood without eating berries, with exercise alone, and with both eating berries and doing exercise. The combination of berries and exercise is the winning one for optimum health benefits. Metabolites can be driven from other sources, as well, such as certain teas, whole grains and more.
“Culturally, Indigenous cultures valued berries for their medicinal purposes – they knew they contained health benefits without knowing the science behind it. Now we can provide it,” said Blaine.
There are lots of reasons for eating all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables – we think one of the most important is that it is simple and delicious food!