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Health Food: Alaskan Wild Blueberries

Jun 22, 2011 | By Susan Lundman
Health Food: Alaskan Wild Blueberries
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From fresh berries in late spring and early summer to frozen or dried berries during the winter, all blueberries are flavorful and healthy additions to your diet. While you can find fresh blueberries in early spring from Mexico and year-round from New Zealand, you'll get more health benefits if you buy dried or fresh wild Alaskan blueberries. While they are smaller in size than cultivated blueberries, wild blueberries pack a bigger nutritional punch.

Health Benefits of Blueberries

All blueberries contain powerful polyphenols a type of micronutrient that work as antioxidants to repair damaged cells in your body, helping to prevent cancer, heart disease, obesity and diabetes. Blueberries have large amounts of one polyphenol called hydroxycinnamic acid, which is not present in other berries. Blueberries also contain anthocyanins and flavonols.

Alaskan Wild Blueberries

The amount of healthful antioxidants varies even in individual plants, with more antioxidants produced when plants are under stress from climate or environmental factors. Blueberries from Alaska and the cool, wet climate of the Pacific Northwest score higher for antioxidant activity than blueberries from drier climates, such as Mexico, according to research published in April 2010 in the "Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry." The wet winters in Alaska produce more berries of higher quality than those produced in areas with milder winters.

Native Uses of Blueberries

Native Alaskans use blueberries as well as the leaves and stems from the plants as medicine, both externally and internally. The Inupiat tribe in the northwest arctic also makes vinegar and relishes from the berries, while other natives make agutuk, a food made using blueberries and either fish or seal oil.

Using Blueberries

Wash fresh blueberries just before using them to keep all of their nutritional value. For a simple summer treat, try fresh wild blueberries with a sprinkling of sugar and a splash of fresh or whipped cream. Use fresh, frozen or dried wild blueberries in baked goods and smoothies. Sprinkle dried blueberries on your breakfast cereal and use fresh or frozen berries for pies, crisps and cobblers.

Experiment with more nontraditional uses as well, such as blueberries salsa as a topping for fish, chicken or tofu and blueberry sauce as a topping for ice cream or yogurt or the base for a one-of-a-kind barbecue sauce.

Other Issues

Because so many roads in Alaska are unpaved, the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry conducted a study, published in 2008, to determine if dust, arsenic, mercury or other chemicals contaminated salmon drying on outdoor racks. In the course of the study, researchers found that neither the salmon nor berries they tested had detectable levels of contaminants. Because the berries had all been picked away from roads, the possibility of contamination was lower than if the berries had been picked next to roads.

References

Article reviewed by Elizabeth Ahders Last updated on: Jun 22, 2011

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