Elderberries have been used as a folk remedy for centuries in North America, Europe, North Africa and Western Asia to treat everything from coughs to bacterial infections. The berries contain amino acids, carotenoids, flavonoids, quercetin and vitamins A, B and C, all powerful antioxidants. These properties are leading modern researchers to study elderberry's nutritional effects on a variety of health problems, with promising results.
Cancer
A study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2006 found that European elderberry plant (Sambucus nigra) contains high levels of anthocyanins, flavonoids and other polyphenolics making the fruit a powerful antioxidant. Under lab conditions, the elderberry extract inhibited an enzyme marker related to the promotion stage of carcinogenesis, leading the researchers to conclude it may have potent anti-cancer properties. American elderberries haven't been cultivated as a medicinal plant for as long, although extracts from these plants also showed similar results.
Cardiovascular Disease
Elderberries are rich in anthocyanins, a potent antioxidant. Researchers at the Department of Cellular and Integrative Physiology, Indiana University School of Medicine, wanted to see if anthocyanin-rich berry extracts could help protect against coronary artery disease. They found that these extracts offered significant protection in laboratory animals against reactive oxygen species (ROS) associated with artery disease, leading them to conclude that such extracts may be beneficial in the line of defense against vascular illnesses.
Diabetes
Natural polyphenolic extracts from elderberry are also showing potential for treating diabetes. Researchers in Ireland and Romania found that elderberry exhibited hypoglycemic, hypolipemic and antioxidant effects as well as demonstrating the presence of insulin-releasing and insulin-like activity. Both groups of researchers concluded that elderberry extracts may be an effective dietary addition for diabetics in helping to control their disease.
Influenza
Prompted by folk medicine's use of elderberry to treat respiratory diseases, researchers are beginning to verify that elderberry extracts may indeed be an effective anti-viral for use against flu strains like H1N1. A study published in the July 2009 issue of "Phytochemistry" reported that elderberry extract binds to H1N1 virions and blocks the ability of the virus to infect host cells in the human body. An earlier study from 2004 reported in the "Journal of International Medical Research" that patients using elderberry had relief from symptoms of both influenza A and B an average of four days sooner and needed less medication than those receiving a placebo.
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