Blueberries

[Celyn]

Blueberries in your muffin could be better than medicine

ALAN MacDERMID August 24 2004

THEY crop up in muffins, feature in fruit salads, and are used in jam, yoghurt and a wide range of recipes. Now the humble blueberry is ready to emerge as a natural protective against heart disease.
A compound in the fruit shows promise in lowering cholesterol as effectively as a commercial drug and has the potential for fewer side effects, according to researchers.
The compound, pterostilbene, is an antioxidant that has also been identified in grapes and red wine.
It has the potential to be developed into a new type of drug, particularly for those who do not respond well to conventional drugs used for this purpose, said scientists with the US Department of Agriculture.
Blueberries are grown extensively in Scotland. Their cousin, the bilberry, grows in the wild.
Reducing cholesterol has become a huge issue in Scotland, with one of the world's highest incidences of coronary heart disease and stroke. Last month, the government cleared the way for a cholesterol-lowering statin drug to be sold across the counter.
Statins are expected to cost the NHS £2bn a year by 2010, but buying the statin, Zocor, for themselves will cost patients £12.99 for 28 days supply.
It has been a controversial move, provoking accusations that the government was shoving the cost of illness on to the public.
The latest findings were described yesterday at a national meeting of the American Chemical Society by Agnes Rimando, a research chemist with the US Department of Agriculture in Mississippi.
No-one yet knows how many blueberries a person needs to eat to have a positive effect at lowering cholesterol, she said.
But her study adds to a growing list of health benefits attributed to the little antioxidant-rich fruit, including protection against ageing, heart disease and cancer, as well as acting as a memory booster.
It is thought it combats free radicals, unstable substances that the body produces as people get older, damaging cells.

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/22569-print.shtml

[Texasmujer]

It's recommended that you add them to cereal, yogurt, and any way you can...they can even be frozen! I've not seen the amount of these berries that will guarantee the optimal level of antioxidents for health benefits, so I guess we are to eat as much as we desire...and then some...