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June 17 issue
— Once upon a time, black raspberries just had no profile.
Sure, this utilitarian fruit made tasty jams, jellies and
ice cream. But ask a consumer what the berry actually was—hint:
it’s not a blackberry, but a smaller purple raspberry—and
you got blank stares.
"WE USED TO SELL the bulk of them to processors to make purple
dye-the same dye used to stamp meat USDA APPROVED," says Don
Sturm, owner of Sturm's Berry Farm outside Portland, Ore.
"We almost never sold them to consumers." That changed two
months ago, when biologist Gary Stoner of Ohio State University
published a study showing a 60 to 80 percent reduction in
colon tumors in rats fed high levels of black raspberries.
Now, as the height of berry season approaches, Sturm can barely
keep up with the demand on his Web site.
Human trials have yet to be conducted with black raspberries.
But 50 years of scientific research have demonstrated that
the healthiest diets are rich in fruits and vegetables. And
various kinds of berries-while no substitute for broccoli-definitely
contribute. New studies suggest they may help prevent everything
from cancer and heart disease to age-related brain decline.
"In the past we would've said the main reason to eat berries
was vitamin C," says Ronald Wrolstad, professor of food science
at Oregon State University. "Then we learned about potassium,
fiber and folate. Today we're learning that berries are also
rich in antioxidants."
NO PRESCRIPTION NEEDED
Think of them as antioxidant pills-without the need for a
visit to the pharmacy. Antioxidants help prevent cellular
damage caused by compounds called free radicals. A few years
ago Tufts scientists measured the antioxidant levels of 50
fresh fruits and vegetables, and found the top slots were
occupied by berries. Much of that antioxidant strength comes
from the anthocyanin pigments that tint berries red, purple
and blue. The darker the berry, the stronger the protective
pigments. In April, physiologist David Bell of the Indiana
University School of Medicine reported that extracts of a
dark berry called the chokeberry completely shielded coronary
arteries in test-tube studies against free radicals that are
a prime culprit in heart disease.
And when it comes to brain protection, there's nothing quite
like blueberries, according to Tufts neuroscientist James
Joseph, coauthor of "The Color Code," a new book about the
virtues of eating colorful foods. (This reporter was another
coauthor.) In one set of tests, Joseph put rats into chambers
containing 100 percent oxygen to mimic the oxidative damage
accompanying brain aging. Unprotected rats seemed to age overnight,
but blueberry-fed rats had no damage at all. In his best-known
set of experiments, aging blueberry-fed rats showed actual
improvements on cognitive and motor-skills tests. "I call
the blueberry the brain berry," says Joseph, who attibutes
the effects to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds.
Berries also show promise in helping to ward off cancer.
Microbiologist Lyndon Larcom at Clemson University has just
completed a series of test-tube studies indicating that both
strawberries and raspberries can block carcinogens of two
classes-some that are directly toxic, others that are activated
by the body's own metabolic processes.
How many berries do we need to eat? No one really knows.
But this spring the National Cancer Institute launched a campaign
called Savor the Spectrum, urging Americans to eat fruits
and vegetables from each color group every day-orange, red,
green and blue-purple. Berries are among the rare blue and
purple foods. With the USDA Food Guide Pyramid recommending
five to nine servings of produce daily, says Stoner, "let
one of your daily helpings of fruit be berries of some sort."
It seems they're berry, berry good.
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New
studies suggest that berries may help prevent cancer, heart
disease, and age-related brain declines