Blueberry Health And Nutrition Facts
The blueberry is as far from a super fad as people could possibly get when they consider its illustrious history. The American blueberry, known as Vaccinium, has long been recognized for its nutritional value, health benefits and of course for nice flavor. Early settlers considered the blueberry as a major ingredient in nutritional foods and medicines. They used to eat blueberries off the bush and added them to stews, soups, and other foods.
At colonial times the Native Americans gathered blueberries for their winter storage of food. They used to dry up the fruit and combined it with honey, cornmeal, and water to make a delicate pudding known as “Sautauthig." The juice of blueberries was also greatly valued for medicinal purposes, especially to treat coughs, as a relaxant during childbirth, and to combat the runs thanks to a substance contained in the berries called anthocyanin. This substance has great antioxidant and mild antibiotic properties, especially against intestinal bacteria that cause diarrhea.
Scientists of the US Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Center have found that blueberries in fact rank No. 1 in antioxidant properties, compared to other 40 fresh fruits and vegetables. Antioxidants greatly help to neutralize harmful free radicals that can lead to cancer and other age-related diseases. The total antioxidant capacity of blueberries as counted is twice that of spinach and three times that of oranges. Blueberry is actually an extraordinary fruit that is also rich in pectin, a soluble fiber that has been shown in several research studies to be effective in lowering cholesterol level. Blueberries are available in the market round the year in many forms including frozen, puree, juice, and concentrate, fresh or dried. Fresh blueberries contain higher amount of vitamins A and C than frozen or canned. A cup of blueberry juice provides nearly a third of the RDA for vitamin C. It would in fact appear that most of the vitamin C content is lost as a result of freezing and canning.
According to the history, the blueberry is native to the United States and has long been used as a source of medicine and food by Native Americans. The people swore by the properties of the blueberry for curing coughs and colds, but the other uses of this fruit were seemingly limitless. Blueberry syrup or tonics were used to relax expectant mothers in childbirth and many Native Americans believed that it had the ability to cleanse the blood and sustain good health beyond their expected years of life. Recognizing the nutritional and medicinal value of blueberry people consumed it every day. Thus blueberry became a staple of their diet for both medicinal and nutritional reasons.
Blueberries, however, have not out of the blue become popular overnight. They have a rich history of at least four hundred years and have been popular in society throughout that period. The only disparity there is between the way people perceive the blueberry today and the way that the Native Americans perceived it is that today people actually have laboratory research to back up the health benefits of the blueberry.