1. Blue is the Health-Wise Rave
If you enjoy sprinkling berries in your breakfast cereal, then you're in luck. Just 80 calories a cup, blueberries are a dense-nutrient fruit. This fruit packs about 25% of your daily Vitamin C requirements, providing a high dose of antioxidants for cancer prevention. Think you're low on your 25 to 35 grams of daily fiber? Add blueberries to your fruit shake for a fiber-rich snack. Abundant in vitamins and minerals, this berry contains manganese, an important mineral for bone development and adequate metabolism of macro-nutrients--proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Substances in blueberries called polyphenols, specifically anthocyanins, provide powerful antioxidant properties--as well as its delicate blue color.
2. The Antioxidant Effect of Blueberries
In addition to their powerful anthocyanins, blueberries contain another antioxidant compound called ellagic acid, which blocks metabolic pathways that can lead to cancer. Another flavonoid present is kaempferol, where a research of almost 67,000 women enrolled in the Nurses Health Study and given diets with high levels of kaempferol had a 40% reduction in risk of ovarian cancer.
3. Fight Cancer Without Being Blue
Fresh blueberry juice inhibited the growth of breast cancer and cervical cancer cells in laboratory studies. Studies on rats have also shown that pterostilbene, an antioxidant compound found in blueberries may inhibit gastrointestinal cancers, such as esophageal cancer, and reduce the formation of precancerous colon polyps. These cancer-fighting properties seem promising for prevention so add a spoonful of blueberries to tonight's fruit salad.
4. Cooking--the Blueberry Way
Not one to spend a lot of time in the kitchen? Then think blueberries. Serve fresh blueberries to your breakfast cereal, heat them over whole-grain waffles or pancakes for breakfast. Create your own blueberry juice blend with other favorite high-fiber frozen berries. Or sprinkle them over a tossed green salad drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice. Celebrating a birthday? Add some blueberries to cake or ice cream for a special antioxidant treat.
5. Selecting Blueberries
Fresh blueberries are abundant in summer but you can buy them all year round, as frozen, canned and dried. When purchasing fresh, choose firm, plump, dry berries with smooth skin. It's all about the color--reddish berries aren't ripe, think blue. Avoid shriveled, bruised or signs of mold on the berries or their containers. Maintain their original plastic pack and refrigerate them as soon as you get home. Choose freezer containers or resealable bags to freeze and rinse before using.
